


Felicity's Italian Romance

by FriendvilleFan



Category: American Girl Dolls - All Media Types
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-25
Updated: 2017-02-25
Packaged: 2018-09-26 21:08:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 21,671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9922172
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FriendvilleFan/pseuds/FriendvilleFan
Summary: American Girl Dolls time travel to a magical world in the future where they come together to form an adopted family. Spunky, colonial Felicity Merriman is known for acting without thought and in a world of danger, magic, villains,  newfound romance and sisterly rivalry her actions have the power to either save the world or destroy it. When the family takes a vacation to a corrupted Italy, Felicity cannot resist taking action even when her wise older adopted sister Samantha Parkington warns her against it. With help from new friends, a kindly old Italian restaurant owner and a poor bellhop, Felicity does what she does best, takes a stance for freedom, independence, and fighting for the weak against a powerful government. Laugh along with the Playroom family on a galloping, fast pace hysterical ride with Felicity Merriman as she unleashes her crazy ideas in a brand new time and place.





	

**Author's Note:**

> In order to better understand characters, setting, and story, please read my quick introduction titled, "Welcome to Pretend Friend Ville," first before reading this story so you can have some idea of which American Girl Dolls are involved, who they are and a little background of how they ended up on this adventure this story takes them.

Welcome to  
Pretend Friend Ville  
Enter into a world of magic and fantastic adventures where impossible dreams come true every day. Welcome to a world where you could be a nobody one minute and famous the next, discover you’re a long lost princess to a magical kingdom or sail across the seven seas with pirates, become a jungle explorer or travel through time on the Time Travel Train, fly to moon and battle with aliens or simply enjoy saving the world from evil villains with your family. Welcome, my dear reader, to Pretend Friend Ville, a place where all children find themselves at least once in their childhood even if they never realize it. It’s a whole world of invisible people just waiting for next adventure to find them in their beautiful, magical lives. It’s a place where anything can happen just as long as you have enough imagination.  
First and foremost, you must know that everyone in Pretend Friend Ville or rather PFV, has magic. They use magic for everything from small stuff like household chores, transportation, magic refills on beverages so they never run out, and flying instead of walking to the big things like starting wars, taking over the world and then salvaging it before the next batty lunatic tries to destroy it again. Everyone in PFV also has a magical creature they turn into or just are. Some examples are: dragons, fairies, mermaids, elves, werewolves, etc. . Life in PFV would cease to exist if it weren’t for magic. Pretend Friend Ville is a place where crazy is the new normal and the laws of magic replace the laws of science and math. It’s a world of stories, each one a little bit loonier than the last.  
Despite how unusual this world is, there are still outcasts. There are still extraordinary people who will never live down the reputation of wackos. They are the Playroom, a unique family where eight of the sixteen are adopted from different historical periods in American history.  
The following stories are about the Playroom people and how they were adopted by Jessica and Jackie, two real world girls who stumbled upon this magical world when Jessica was a lonely child at three years old and Jackie still a baby. Over the years, Jessica and Jackie had their share of adventures in PFV as they made a home in the Playroom with the girls they adopted from the famous Time Traveling Company American Girl.  
Together in these stories we will see the Playroom face evil villains, dangerous missions, deathly diseases, shipwrecks, romance, homesickness, and who knows what else as they struggle to remain a real family through it all.  
The Playroom is grouped into three categories: the Big girls, Glogan, and the Babies. Exactly one half of the Playroom people were adopted by Jessica and the other half by Jackie. Since Jessica and Jackie are sisters, everyone from one side of the Playroom family has a best friend on the other side. To give you some idea of who’s who and what’s what here is a list of the Playroom people and a little description about each one. Not everything about each person can be summarized here and you will learn more about each person as the stories go on. There will be things in the story you may not understand and that’s okay. The detailed Playroom jargon can be difficult to comprehend especially if you’ve never even heard of PFV but it’s not important to the main plot of the story. Now that that’s settled, let’s meet the characters.  
Samantha Parkington: Meet Miss Samantha Parkington, the girl in charge. As the first Big Girl to be adopted by Jessica, Samantha has seen it all in the last ten years she’s lived in PFV. She was there before any other Big Girl arrived and she was there when the Playroom was first built. Since Jackie and Jessica don’t really care about the family as adoptive mothers ought, Samantha feels it is her duty to take control. Samantha has practically raised most of the children in the Playroom and a single word from her can stop any and all chaos. Everyone loves Samantha even though she can get very angry sometimes. Living in a place like the Playroom can do that do a person. Samantha spends her time chasing after her family in her attempts to monitor the craziness. She does let them have their fun; however, when it gets out of hand Samantha is there to clean up the mess. 

From the Year: 1904 Place: New York Best Friend: Nellie O'Malley  
Adopted by: Jessica Day she came to the PFV: July 22, 2005 Age: 17  
Magical Creature: Dragon  
Nellie O’Malley: Meet Nellie O’Malley, the girl who has been here almost as long as Samantha and who has joined her on every adventure. Nellie also has an air of leadership like Samantha but she doesn’t get as angry and isn’t as intense. This makes her better equipped to handle all the drama in a house of fifteen girls.  
Back in time, Nellie was a servant girl next door to Samantha. Samantha herself was an orphan living with her wealthy grandmother and when Nellie’s parents died, Nellie was put in a terrible orphanage with her sisters Bridget and Jenny. Samantha was there to rescue them. Soon they were adopted by Samantha’s Uncle Gard and Aunt Cornelia. They were all very happy until Samantha and Nellie were sent to live in Groveland Massachusetts in a magical world one hundred years in the future. Even though the girls found a new home in the Playroom, Nellie still yearns to go back in time. Nellie loves her Playroom family but unlike Samantha, Nellie is not truly satisfied with her lot in life. She is homesick for the past although she’ll never admit that to a few certain individuals in the Playroom. 

Year: 1904 Place: New York Best friend: Samantha Parkington  
Adopted by: Jackie Day she came to PFV: Christmas 2005 Age: 17  
Magical Creature: Mermaid  
Felicity Merriman: Meet Felicity, the girl who thinks battling evil, rescuing your friends, saving the world, encountering situations that require a great deal of courage and experiencing an intense amount of betrayal and heartbreak are all in a day’s work. Of any of the Playroom citizens, Felicity is the one who best lives up to the title “wackos on Play Road.” She is fierce, strong, determined, and very overdramatic. She is not afraid to do crazy things like wear a squid costume and run around town as “Squid Woman” or jump on a horse and keep on riding with no thought as to where she’s going. Felicity doesn’t get embarrassed or shy; she doesn’t even know the meaning of those words. But when someone she loves is in danger or needs help, Felicity is there in an instant with no regard for her own safety. She’ll deliberately sacrifice herself if it means her friend can go free.  
Felicity is from colonial America and her ideas of freedom match those of the founding fathers. She is a hard core patriot and doesn’t like sewing, teatime, and other “sitting down” kinds of things. She could have never been the gentlewoman her birth mother expected her to be and instead prefers to take off on a wild horse adventure. When she was still living back in time she yearned to be a boy so she could run off to war with her friend Benjamin Davidson.  
And yet where Felicity ended up is even better than she could have imagined. Life with Felicity can be exasperating, exhausting and downright frustrating. But that doesn’t stop the crazy Playroom family from welcoming her in with open arms. 

Year: 1774 Place: Williamsburg, Virginia Best friend: Elizabeth Cole  
Adopted by: Jessica Day she came to PFV: Christmas 2007 Age: 16  
Magical Creature: Siren  
Elizabeth Cole: Poor Elizabeth is stuck with a person like Felicity Merriman for a best friend. Elizabeth doesn’t have much time for herself and her own life because Felicity is always dragging her along on her adventures. Felicity is said to be a faithful friend but Elizabeth begs to differ. Felicity often marches off to do something crazy without her and Elizabeth always tags along. Felicity expects Elizabeth to follow her and only rarely will Elizabeth surprise her by not coming. Elizabeth is Felicity’s voice of reason and she is one of the only people who can talk some kind of sense into Felicity.  
Back in time, Elizabeth’s family came from England and had only newly arrived in the new world when the American Revolution broke out. Elizabeth and her family remained loyal to the king while Elizabeth formed an unlikely friendship with the patriot Felicity Merriman. Even now over two hundred years later they are still an unusual pair. Felicity is loud where Elizabeth is quiet; Felicity is thoughtless and sometimes selfish when Elizabeth is very thoughtful and giving. 

Year: 1774 Place: Williamsburg, Virginia Best Friend: Felicity Merriman  
Adopted by: Jackie Day she came to PFV: April 4, 2010 Age: 16  
Molly McIntire: Before coming to the Playroom, Molly lived through World War II on the American home front. Molly isn’t involved in the Playroom as much as the other Playroom citizens and her talents may still remain a mystery. She is practical and smart which are two traits the Playroom needs desperately. Molly and her best friend Emily don’t have much to do in the Playroom. They mostly stay at home while everyone else is off living their lives. Yet adventure still manages to find them even if it’s quieter, subtler, and slower moving than say, Felicity. There is more to Molly than what meets the eye but for now that’s all you need to know.  
Year: 1944 Place: Jefferson, Illinois Best friend: Emily Bennett  
Adopted by: Jackie Day she came to PFV: Christmas 2007 Age: 16  
Magical Creature: Werewolf  
Emily Bennett: All Emily has ever known is war. It was war she grew up with in England during World War II before being sent to America to live with the McIntires and now its magical wars she faces today in PFV. Emily is very shy and it took quite a while for her to warm up to Molly. Emily is a little bit of an outcast in the Playroom and it’s mostly because she doesn’t talk. She is afraid. She is scared of many things but Glogan are one of them. Felicity is another. Felicity and Emily do not get along and everyone else is so busy they don’t have a chance to get to know her even if they wanted to. Molly is the only real person Emily can talk to but even then they aren’t very close. Since Emily is so quiet no one really knows her but it makes it that much easier for her to keep a secret, an important one which may or may not come up later.  
To help their family defeat evil villains, Molly and Emily disguised themselves as D.E.S.T.I.N.Y.(don’t ask what it stands for, no one remembers) a group that blows up famous monuments like the White House, Big Ben, the Pyramids, and the Eiffel tower, when evil villains had their conventions there. D.E.S.T.I.N.Y. is briefly mentioned towards the end of Captured by French Pirates when they blow up the Eiffel Tower. 

Year: 1944 Place: London, England &Illinois Best Friend: Molly McIntire  
Adopted by: Jessica Day she came to PFV: July 22, 2010 Age: 16  
Magical Creature: Unicorn  
Marie-Grace Gardner: Marie-Grace was growing up in New Orleans during the 1853 yellow fever epidemic with her widowed father when she met Cécile Rey, a free girl of color who despite all odds, become Marie-Grace’s only real friend. Marie-Grace and Cécile worked as volunteers in the overcrowded orphanages. Missing a parent herself, Marie-Grace had an idea of what it is like to grow up alone. She has compassion for others and struggles with a lack of confidence in her abilities. Marie-Grace’s father is a doctor and he experienced the horror of the epidemic first hand. After losing his wife four years ago to the same disease, Thaddeus Gardener agrees to send his daughter to safety with a complete stranger. Little does he know just how far this stranger will take her. Marie-Grace does not want to leave her new home and friends for an even more exotic world she’s never even heard of. For the first time Marie-Grace fights with her father and she comes to regret it because the last words she ever gets to say to him are in anger.  
Marie-Grace used to be very shy before she came to the Playroom. Now she’s finding her voice and discovering her own talents with her new family on Play Road. Like her best friend Cécile, she also has a growing interest in the performing arts. But before Cécile even comes to PFV, Marie-Grace is kidnapped by pirates, an event that will change her life forever.

Year: 1853 Place: New Orleans, Louisiana Best Friend: Cécile Rey Adopted by: Jessica Day she came to PFV: Christmas 2012 Age: 15 Magical Creature: Water Nymph  
Cécile Rey: Cécile was a wealthy free girl of color living in New Orleans with her family during the yellow fever epidemic of 1853. She yearned for adventure and pursuing her dreams of acting until she finally had a chance to live those dreams by coming to PFV. Even then it’s a struggle because the spotlight is always focused on her best friend and the adventures she once dreamed of having are impossible. Now she is finding a new place to belong as she discovers new dreams with her time traveling family. Cécile is the newest member to the Play Road family and we do not see her until Orphans Run Wild part three of Adventures with a French Pirate. 

Year: 1853 Place: New Orleans, Louisiana Best Friend: Marie-Grace Gardner  
Adopted by: Jackie Day she came to PFV: April 4, 2013 Age: 15  
Magical Creature: Genie  
Gwendolyn Lindashire:  
Gwen and her best friend Logan are different from the rest of the people in the Playroom in more ways than one. The first is physically. They are American Girls’ Hopscotch Hill School which is meant for an age older than Bitty Baby but younger than the historical Big Girls. So they are hard bodied and very skinny. Finding clothes that fit is a constant problem. Gwen and Logan, or Glogan as they’re most commonly referred to as, are the heart and soul of the playroom. They bear the brunt of battle on the front lines. They are such close friends that they’ve become almost inseparable, hence the nickname Glogan.  
In their duo, Gwen is the idiotic side kick who always has something funny to say. She is the comic relief and she is famous for lightening the mood during serious, on the verge of death situations. She is the class clown but occasionally she’ll shock everyone by saying something wise and enlightening. But for the most part, she’s silly little Gwen who will always follow Logan to the ends of the earth.  
Another important tidbit about Gwen is that she is the Long Lost Elf Princess. In PFV, Santa Claus enslaved the whole race of elves and trapped them on the North Pole so they could make the toys he delivers on Christmas Eve. To make a long story short, Gwen discovered her true identity when she and Logan freed the elves and punished Santa. All elves, even Gwen, are excellent toy makers and have reoccurring nightmares about Santa. 

Year: 1515(In general, elves live really long lives) Place: Elf Kingdom  
Best Friend: Logan Buckingham Adopted by: Jessica  
Day she came to PFV: Christmas 2004 Age: 14 Magical Creature: Elf  
Logan Buckingham: The picture of the sweet innocent face to the left does not match the character of Logan at all. Don’t let looks deceive you. Logan is a hard core spy/ agent/ time travel/leader/ emotional advisor/ investigator and she also dabbles in illegal scientific magic experiments. She is always on the lookout for danger and is constantly defeating villains. Logan knows a lot of things about PFV that will shock and surprise you, amaze and even frighten you. Whenever anyone in the Playroom has a seriously dangerous magic situation, Logan is called in to help. Where Gwen is known for accidently making things worse, Logan is known for saving the day. Logan can be very tight lipped and doesn’t blab top secrets to the world like Gwen. When Logan doesn’t want to say something she doesn’t say it no matter how much Gwen begs her. Logan can also be funny like Gwen but she also has a serious side that Gwen seems to lack. Logan’s past remains a mystery to everyone and maybe to Logan herself. We know that she has time travelled more than humanly possible and that may be a reason why we know so little about her history.

Year: Unknown Place: Unknown Best Friend: Gwen  
Adopted by: Jackie Day she came to PFV: Christmas 2004 Age: 14  
Magical Creature: Vampire?  
Big Dolly Chinchon:  
Big D. is considered a baby in the Playroom even though she’s over ten years old. Big D. is special because she was the very first baby doll Jessica adopted. Big D. has been there since before Jessica can even remember. As a result, Big D. isn’t looking too good. Despite the fact her arm was ripped off and had to be glued back on and her eyes are rusting out of her head Big Dolly still has a lot of life left in her.  
In PFV, everyone has a magical creature and Big D. is a seer or an old hag who knows the future. Big D. uses her magical abilities to tell people’s fortunes. She and her henchman Parker have made a business out of it. To have your future told all you have to do is pay Parker at the entrance of the tent and then go in to see Madame Dolly. We will see Madame Dolly in action in Samantha’s second story Where Madness Begins.  
She talks a lot but the Big Girls don’t find her nearly as annoying as either one of the two Bitty Babies. Big D. is also a chef. Big D. and Parker are the only ones in the Playroom who can cook and they are responsible for feeding all sixteen of them. Needless to say, Thanksgiving Dinner is their biggest nightmare. 

Year: Unknown Place: China Best Friend: Parker Squansofin  
Adopted by: Jessica Day she came to PFV: Unknown Age: 11  
Magical Creature: Seer  
Parker Squansofin: Meet the man of the house, Parker. As the only boy in the Playroom, Parker is constantly being picked on by everyone else. Parker is constantly being used and bullied by the other Babies; Madame Dolly is a prime example. Parker has that classic macho physique. He was actually a famous wrestler for quite some time until he gave it all up to be part of the Playroom family. Parker is relatively quiet and simple minded. Parker is best friends with Big D. and they bicker like an old married couple. Parker loves Big D. as more than a best friend and she loves him back. It’s a cute, awkward childhood crush.  
Year: Unknown Place: Africa Best friend: Big D. Adopted by: Jackie  
Day he came to PFV: Unknown Age: 11 Magical Creature: Troll  
Bitty Baby Fatterson:  
There are two Bitty Babies in the Playroom and Bitty Fatterson belongs to Jessica. Bitty F. is best friends with Bitty Quansa. They are the youngest people in the Playroom and their actions show how immature they can really be. They have lived their entire lives in the Playroom and that may not be a good thing. The closest things they have to parents are Samantha and Nellie. Samantha and Nellie do their best to love and discipline them but they’re just kids themselves. They can only do so much.  
Both Bitties can be bossy, demanding, and insulting without even meaning to be. Even being exposed to so much magic and chaos their whole lives they have a childlike innocence that the others do not. They are a bit spoiled and used to having their own way. Bitty Q. is a little bit smarter and more sincere at times than her friend Bitty F. Bitty F. has a tendency to blurt out whatever she’s thinking. She is more abrupt than Bitty and she can be a bit harsher. She thinks of herself as a sidekick to Bitty Q. but that’s not really true. They are both equals.  
Bitty F’s parents are rather large people (like the size of three houses & that’s possible in PFV) and they stow away on cruise ships. Over the years, they have been in and out of debtor’s prison. They care more about eating and watching T.V. than they do about raising their daughter. Their nicknames are Mama Pork and Daddy Potato Chip. They gave birth to Bitty on the back of a city bus in Boston. For obvious reasons the PFV government stepped in and took Bitty out of their custody. She was living in a government facility camp when Jessica came to adopt her. For most of her life, Bitty had no idea who her parents were. Now she and Bitty Q. regularly visit them. Bitty uses the money she makes from being famous to help pay for her parents to roam around on cruise ships. The majority of the Playroom people don’t think very highly about Bitty’s parents but Bitty doesn’t seem to care. She loves them anyway. 

Year: Today Place: Massachusetts Best friend: Bitty Quansa  
Adopted by: Jessica Day she came to PFV: Unknown Age: 7  
Magical Creature: Unknown  
Bitty Baby Quansa:  
In PFV, the name Quansa is a famous one. Bitty Q. is a musical protégée and moments after birth she could play the violin as if she’d been playing it for years. Bitty was born in Japan but she was orphaned soon after. We don’t know how much she remembers of her parents, it’s something she refuses to talk about no matter how much Samantha pleads with her. While living in the Playroom Bitty has become even more famous with her partner Bitty F.. Together the Bitties write plays and preform them with the Playroom family. One show in particular made their fame sky rocket and now all Quansa shows are a must see event in PFV. Throughout Samantha’s stories we see the Bitties in action as the Playroom gets ready to put on a musical. In Adventures with a French Pirate we see the Bitties more humble beginnings. 

Year: Today Place: Japan Best Friend: Bitty Fatterson  
Adopted by: Jackie Day she came to PFV: Unknown Age: 8  
Magical Creature: Fairy  
Felicity’s  
Italian  
Romance

 

Journey to Europe with the Playroom Family

A Playroom Production

By: Bellhop #52  
Ciao e benvenuti in Italia!  
Hello and Welcome to Italy!  
My fellow bellhops and I agree that the story of how one of our own fellow bellhops comes to be acquainted with the Playroom is a story worth telling and I, Bellhop #52, am just the bellhop to do it.  
This is a story of true love, sisterly affection or cat fights either term will apply, new friendship and of course action, adventure, and danger. Sit back but I can’t guarantee that you’ll relax and enjoy the story.  
-Bellhop # 52

“I’m bored!” Felicity whined as she belly flopped into her four poster colonial bed. “There’s absolutely nothing fun to do around here any more!”  
“I don’t believe it,” Samantha said in wonder. “Felicity Merriman has finally run out of crazy ideas.”  
“It’s a miracle!” Nellie exclaimed.  
“Hey,” Felicity huffed angrily. “I’m not crazy!”  
“Yes you are!” The rest of her family chimed in.  
Felicity just ignored them as she turned to face her best friend Elizabeth Cole. “So, what do you want to do today?”  
“I don’t know,” said Elizabeth standing behind her closet doors wearing nothing except her historical undergarments. “But I’d like to get dressed and I don’t know what I should wear. Should I wear my blue tea dress or my riding outfit? And I can’t wear the tea dress if we’re going to do something crazy and dangerous. It’s much too delicate.”  
“Urgh!” Felicity complained as she smothered her face in her pillow. “You people just don’t understand! And I’ve never done anything crazy or dangerous in my life!”  
“Okay Felicity, how about the time….”  
“Elizabeth! Just tell me what we should do!”  
“Um . . . we could go horseback riding in death valley and then come home and cry about our near death experiences.”  
“No,” Felicity said dismissively. “Been there, done that. Except I never cry.”  
“Sure, Felicity, whatever you say.”  
“There’s just nothing left Elizabeth. We’ve saved town hall from giant spiders a million times, we’ve cleaned up all of Gwen’s messes when she nearly exploded the universe, we robbed the bank and blamed it on the mailman, and we chased Logan’s mutant magic monsters back into the sewer. And that was just yesterday! What are we going to do for the rest of the week?”  
“I don’t know Felicity, but maybe we don’t need to do something dramatic. I mean, it’s spring break. Can’t we just use the time off to relax for once?”  
“NO!” Felicity shouted. “Where’s the fun in that?”  
They were silent for a few minutes until . . .  
“Ooo, I know!” Felicity jumped her to her feet when a light bulb clicked on behind her and she just happened to get an idea.  
“Oh no,” Elizabeth muttered. “Please don’t let it be something crazy and dangerous. . .”  
“We should take a vacation!”  
“A what?” said Elizabeth.  
“A vacation! That’s just what we need! We take a vacation every summer and winter. Why can’t we do one in springtime, too?”  
“Oh no,” said Samantha. “Spring is my one season off from dragging this crazy bunch all over the world. Besides, we’re already two days in which means that I’d need to plan everything immediately and somehow get you all packed and on a plane before the day is out. I’m sorry, but that’s just not going to happen.”  
“But maybe you don’t have to,” said Felicity. “I could do it.”  
“Heaven help us,” Samantha muttered to Nellie. Nellie smothered a giggle behind her hands as her friend turned back to Felicity. “Alright Felicity, If you can plan everything and get everyone packed then maybe I’ll consider it.”  
“Yes! Thank you Samantha!” Felicity exclaimed. “I’ll give us the best vacation we’ve ever had. You won’t regret this, I promise you won’t.”  
“We’ll see,” Samantha said skeptically.  
“I might as well plan a vacation for my family too,” said Nellie. To Samantha she added, “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure she doesn’t send you guys to the moon or somewhere else equally bizarre.”  
“Thanks Nellie. You’re a true friend.”  
“Don’t mention it.”  
On the other side of the room, Felicity squealed in delight as she flipped through the world book. “Let’s go to Antarctica!”  
Nellie glanced back at Samantha. “On second thought. . .”  
“Please, Nellie. Don’t let her send us there! Anything but that.”  
“Fine,” said Nellie. “But you owe me.”  
******************************************************************  
“Come on, let’s move, move, move! We don’t have all day here people! We have a plane to catch.” Felicity said as she hurried her family out the door.  
Bitty F. paused in the doorway. “How did you manage to get a flight this last minute?”  
“Yeah, how did you?” Samantha asked.  
Felicity flushed red. “That’s not important.”  
“As long as it doesn’t get me arrested, then we should be good.”  
“Relax,” said Felicity, “you won’t be arrested, but Gwen might.”  
“What?” Gwen looked up from where she piling a mountain of luggage onto her red toy wagon.  
“Nothing,” replied both sisters.  
Gwen wanted to say more but was distracted when the wagon rolled down the street and tipped over, spilling all their luggage into a muddy puddle where a flock of griffins swooped down to take off with it. “Aw, come on!” Gwen exclaimed as she flew after it. “Griffins, really?”  
As the family, minus Gwen and the luggage, neared the airport, Samantha decided it was time to resume command. “Alright Felicity, spill your guts. It’s past time you told me what craziness you have in store for us.”  
“No can do sister dear,” called Felicity. “Until we arrive, this vacation is mine.”  
“At the very least you could tell me where we are going.”  
“Pish, posh, this is supposed to be a family vacation. As long as we are together, the rest shouldn’t matter.”  
“Felicity Merriman!”  
“Oh come on Samantha, don’t you trust me?”  
“No actually, I don’t.”  
“Good. Some uncertainty will do you some good.”  
******************************************************************  
“Boarding: Flight one to Antarctica,” boomed a voice over the airport loudspeakers.  
“Well,” said Nellie giving Samantha one last hug. “This is where we say goodbye.”  
“No!” Bitty Q. screamed as she clutched onto Bitty F. “Not yet!”  
“Don’t go Bitty!” Bitty F. cried. “I’ll miss you too much!”  
“Oh brother,” Samantha mumbled. “Do they have to do this every time?”  
“Snap out of it soldiers!” Felicity yelled as she tried to break them apart.  
Nellie glared at Felicity and tried to comfort the sobbing Bitties. “What Felicity means is, it’s only a week. You’ll see each other soon enough.”  
But Bitty Q. still cried uncontrollably. “I don’t wanna go! We’re all gonna die!”  
“We are not going to die!”  
“I can’t believe you’re actually going through this,” said Samantha. “If anything, I thought Felicity would send us to Antarctica, not the other way around.”  
“Yeah,” said Nellie. “But we’ve already seen all the other continents. It’s time to branch out a little.”  
“Yes, but Antarctica? Isn’t that a little far? I mean, what will you do when something bad happens? You’re all alone down there.”  
“Hey, at least I know where I’m going.”  
Samantha sighed. “That’s true.”  
“Last call for flight one,” announced the flight attendant.  
From the terminal ramp Logan shouted, “Are you guys coming or not? Hobo Joe’s plane isn’t going to run forever.”  
“Isn’t that the truth,” muttered Nellie. “Come on Bitty, let’s go.”  
“No!” Bitty Q. flailed her arms and legs as Nellie dragged her away. Even though Bitty had everyone in a ten mile radius watching them, Nellie still smiled at Samantha and said, “See you next week!”  
Bitty F. tried to follow but Samantha’s words stopped her. “Bitty, you want to get on Hobo Joe’s ritchy old plane?”  
Bitty F. choked back a sob. “No, but Bitty. . .”  
“Bitty will be just fine,” Samantha said and then shuddered when she saw Hobo Joe’s plane tip dangerously to one side while it teetered down the runway. She could hear her friends screams when the engine backfired leaving a trail of scoot in their wake. “Or maybe,” Samantha said quietly to herself, “Nellie doesn’t have to worry about what happens in Antarctica because Hobo Joe will probably kill them all on the way there.”  
******************************************************************  
Tick tock, tick tock, Samantha watched time tick away as she sat in the airport lounge. It had been two hours since Nellie’s family had left for Antarctica and Samantha’s family was still stuck here in the airport, stretched out across the whole seating area as if they owned it. Carry-ons and lunch boxes were thrown haphazardly about, Big D. jabbered on about random things, Emily sat perfectly still with her back straight and hands folded neatly on her lap, Felicity had her feet up and was reading a magazine about a celebrity group called Sparkle Dancers, and Gwen draped herself across a seat and was banging her head against the armrest as Bitty F. sobbed next to her, “I miss Bitty!”  
“Shut up!” Gwen snapped and then settled back into her chair.  
Bitty’s lower lip quivered, she was about to start wailing even louder, when Samantha just sighed tiredly, “Leave her alone Gwen! I bet you’re missing Logan just as much as Bitty is missing Bitty.”  
Wisely, Gwen made no comment.  
“And you!” Samantha turned to face Felicity. “Do you even know what flight we’re on? Do we even have tickets? We’ve been here for three hours Felicity! How long do you expect us to wait here?”  
Felicity opened her mouth to speak as a voice on the loudspeaker announced, “Boarding: Flight fifty two to Rome Italy at gate number one hundred fifty two B.”  
“That’s our plane!” Felicity exclaimed.  
“Gate what?!” Samantha glared at her adopted sister. “That’s on the exact opposite side of the airport!”  
Gwen shouted, “We’ll never make it in time!”  
“Oh yes we will!” Felicity pulled a rocket powered skateboard out of her carry-on. She threw both babies on and pressed a button. Bitty F. squealed in delight as they went zooming across the airport. With a toss of her head and a wave of her arm, Felicity took off running as she said, “Come on, you’re too slow! We’ll never make it at this rate!”  
Samantha and Emily looked at each other and then raced to catch up. “How did she manage to get that thing through security?” Emily wondered aloud.  
Samantha shrugged. “It’s Felicity, I probably don’t want to know.”  
“Wait!” Gwen yelled. “You forgot the carryons!” Gwen looked down at their heap of stuff and then at her disappearing family. She hurriedly piled it on her back and started running but knew she’d never catch up. “Guys!” she huffed breathlessly, “ Wait. . . for. . . me!”  
To Gwen’s surprise, Felicity yelled across the airport at the top of her lungs. “Don’t worry Gwen! I’m coming!”  
Gwen’s eyes widened in sheer terror as Felicity came barreling towards her at full speed. Gwen dropped to her feet but Felicity only grabbed her carry on and kept on running. Soon Gwen was mauled by the rest of her family.  
“Ow! Bitty, that’s my hair!”  
“At least you have hair!” Bitty complained. “And where’s my carry on?”  
“Um. . . it was so huge I had to put it in luggage.”  
“What?!”  
“Bitty, it was over fifty pounds!”  
Emily looked over at them and then quickly ducked her head back down again. Her face grew hot as she realized everyone else in the airport was staring at them. Oh my, she thought, they’re making an even bigger scene than last time.  
Emily was relieved (and who wouldn’t be?) when Samantha shoved her way between them. “Guys! Knock it off and get on the plane!”  
Everyone jumped to comply and they continued their classic mad dash to where the plane awaited boarding. They mowed over the flight attendant lady standing at the top of the ramp. “Tickets?” she squeaked from her flattened position on the floor.  
Six tickets pelted the woman as the Playroom people marched onward.  
Slowly, painfully, the flight attendant got to her feet, patted her hair back into place, and collected the scattered tickets. “I don’t get paid enough for this job.”  
******************************************************************  
Dishes clanged together in the soapy sink of a brightly lit gourmet kitchen. The hotel chefs of the Great American Tourist Destination in PFV Rome Italy kept their bus boys busy as the evening dinner rush began.  
“Smith!”  
A poor, but honest, hardworking young bellhop looked up from the dishes wishing he could go somewhere, do something, and be someone who didn’t have to answer to the nagging voice of his stepbrother.  
“What is it now?” Smith dreaded the answer but knew he was at his brother’s beck and call anyway.  
“Don’t take that tone with me, Smith. And besides,” his so called brother smirked, “I have a new assignment for you.”  
He waited for Smith to dry his hands before handing him a crisp white envelope with the hotel emblem printed on it. Smith looked at him suspiciously but his evil brother just shrugged his shoulders and lifted his hands in a gesture of innocence. “What? It’s only your average American family going on vacation. Your job is to cater to their every whim.”  
Slightly satisfied, Smith tore open the envelope and regarded the message with horror. “Average?! Average?!! Did you not hear the news reports of what they did to their last hotel! It’s the Playroom.They’re . . . they’re. . .”  
“Crazy? Nuts? Whack-o?”  
Smith’s eyes narrowed. “You can’t do this to me.”  
The evil smirk widened reminding Smith of a reptile right before it struck its prey. This was a challenge or a dare and Smith knew it. “Oh, brother, yes yes I can and I will unless, of course, you chose to quit.”  
Smith closed his eyes and saw the pleading anguish in his mother’s expression, his real siblings poor faces and their need for so many things. He couldn’t quit. He needed this job. His family needed him to have this job. He couldn’t fail because failing them was never an option. Never.  
Wordless and defeated, Smith shook his head as his enemy laughed, savoring his misfortune. Smith sighed. At that moment in time, Smith had no idea that by assigning him as a personal bellhop to the Playroom family, his evil brother actually helped cause the best that could have ever happened to him.  
******************************************************************  
“Attention passengers!”  
Samantha hushed Bitty with one arm and elbowed Gwen in the gut with the other. “Huh?” Gwen rubbed her side and she peeled off her sleeping mask.  
“Shh!” Samantha said before turning her attention to the voice.  
“Attention passengers! This is your pilot speaking and I would like to thank you for traveling with MEDIA (Most Expensive Deluxe Italian Airfare) with our magic technology we are able to give you the most relaxing journey none of you would ever dream of having on a regular airplane that also proves to be the safest. But it does come with quite a hefty price tag as a few of you well know.”  
The other rich passengers chuckled softly but Samantha twisted in her seat to face the row behind them. “Felicity Merriman!”  
Felicity looked up from her magazine for about two seconds. In the seat beside her, Emily was frightened by the look on Samantha’s face but Felicity didn’t break a sweat. “What?” Felicity said as she casually turned the page. “Go big or go home, right? Isn’t that what they always say?”  
Samantha growled angrily under her breath. Remember, this is before Bitty Q. is famous so in this story the Playroom family isn’t nearly as wealthy as they are now but Felicity was busy spending like they were. Great, Samantha thought as she slumped back in her seat. Now I have to figure out a way to pay for this mess. Maybe they should have gone to Antarctica. At least Hobo Joe’s plane is free.  
At the front of the plane the flight attendant clapped her hands for attention. “Instead of going through the usual safety procedures because nothing bad could ever possibly happen to this plane I’m going to introduce our very special and very famous---”  
“Not to mention very rich, very successful, and very handsome,” said an older man with a thick Italian accent and a twinkle in his eye.  
“Oh yes, we mustn’t forget that.”  
“Yawn,” murmured Gwen. She readjusted her sleeping mask and reclined in her seat. “It’s probably not anyone important anyway.”  
Samantha just rolled her eyes and didn’t bother to shush her although she knew or at least suspected Gwen was about to be amazed.  
“Signore,” the flight attendant clasped the old Italian’s hand, “It has been an honor flying with you as you tour the Americas but now it is time you returned home to your beloved Italy----”  
“Ah, Italia,” he said dreamily. “No place on earth is as bellissimo e romantico, eh?”  
If Marie-Grace had been there she probably would have been thinking, France has got him beat.  
The flight attendant announced, “May I present the one, the only, and the very best chef in the entire world Giovanni!”  
Gwen did perk up at this. “Did she say chef?” But her words went unheard against the roar of applause from the other passengers. Eventually, Gwen lost all interest and was trying to snooze again. A few minutes past and just when Gwen was about to be lulled to sleep by the motion of the plane, she was jerked awake by a delicious aroma that came wafting from the back of the plane. One of the great ironies of the Playroom is that even though Gwen and Logan are by far the skinniest, they are also the hungriest. They eat the most out of everyone but because of magic, their stomachs are bottomless pits and they never gain any weight at all.  
Gwen rose from her seat in a sleepwalker’s trance and literally followed her nose as she floated over to where a kind, old, Italian chef was happily cooking away.  
Giovanni paused mid whistle to see a girl staring wide eyed up at him. She was practically drooling. “What is that?” She asked.  
“Oh, this? This is food. Have you ever had any before?”  
“I know it’s food! I’m not stupid!”  
“That’s debatable!” Samantha called from her seat.  
Giovanni said, “This is my newest creation. Would you like to try it?”  
“Would I?!”  
“I’m doing a bit of advertising. Everything you see here is a free sample.”  
Gwen was almost giddy. “Really?!”  
“Perche si naturalmente.”  
Even though she had no idea what he just said, Gwen threw herself at the buffet and devoured all of Giovanni’s masterpieces. Although Giovanni was a bit surprised by Gwen’s animalistic eating habits, he knew better than to turn down an eager customer even if she was scaring away all the other potential customers.  
Gwen’s mouth was stuffed full of food when she said, “I’m going to Italy, you know.”  
No duh, Giovanni thought, You are on a bound bound for Italy. But all he said was, “Oh, really? Il mio ristorante is in Rome.”  
“That’s where we’re staying!”  
His eyes seemed to twinkle down at Gwen. “Then you’ll have to stop by. bring some money next time please.”  
“Oh I will, and I’ll bring my whole family with me.”  
There’s more of you?! But Giovanni smiled and winked at her. “I’ll be ready.”  
******************************************************************  
The plane zoomed across the Pretend Friend Ville sky. Emily sighed quietly as she turned to gaze out the window. It was so blue and the clouds were arranged so perfectly it almost resembled a painting. Wait. . . was that . . ? No, it couldn’t be. With the glare on the window it almost looked like there was a massive solid black jet about to crash right into them.  
“Um. . . guys?” Emily said hesitantly.  
“Shut up or speak up!” Felicity snapped in irritation . “Although it’s not like anyone is ever going to hear her anyway.”  
“Felicity!” Samantha scolded. “Be nice!”  
“What? It’s true.”  
Emily looked down and swallowed hard, deciding not to speak after all, a decision that would put all their lives in danger.  
Gwen opened her mouth wide and was just about to chomp down on one of Giovanni's new finest, delectable, and mouth watering creations when suddenly the black plane rammed into their side and sent the M.E.D.I.A. plane hurtling out of the sky. Gwen stumbled forward and her food went flying to hit some random lady in the back of the head. She shook her fist at Gwen. “Hey! Watch---  
The lights flickered off and a horrible noise screeched over the intercom. “This is your pilot speaking---”  
The plane lurched sideways and Bitty screamed. “I don’t wanna die!”  
This caused much panic and confusion among the other passengers. Since the airline didn’t have any real safety procedures, no one knew what to do. Samantha took charge and pulled three parachutes out of her bag. Felicity looked at her in surprise. “Where did those come from?”  
“Never travel without your own means of escape,” Samantha replied calmly. “I only have three so we’ll have to double up. I’m with Bitty, Gwen you’re with Big D.----”  
“But she’s dead weight!” Gwen complained.  
Samantha glared at her. “Would you rather I toss you out without one?”  
“No, please continue.”  
“Thank you. Felicity you’re with Emily.” Felicity nodded but Emily went pale and Samantha wondered if this was a bad decision. Where Emily was paralyzed with fear, Felicity thrived on danger and tended to be a bit or very reckless.  
As the girls strapped themselves into their parachutes, the plane was hit again and now the cockpit was on fire. “When I count to three,” Samantha said, “we jump.”  
Everyone nodded. “One . . . two---”  
Felicity jumped. Emily was clinging onto her back for dear life. She opened her mouth to scream but she was so terrified no sound came out. By now the fire had spread and Samantha pushed Big D. and Gwen over the side. Bitty screamed in her ear as she jumped. The plane exploded and spiraled out of control behind them. Luggage of all different shapes and styles rained down from the wreckage above.  
“What happened to the other passengers?” Gwen called up to Samantha but another voice answered.  
“Ciao down there!” Giovanni called from his advertising blimp where all the other passengers were waving at them. “Do you need any help?”  
“No, we’re good! But thanks anyway!” Felicity shouted impulsively while Samantha growled in anger at her. As they landed, Felicity smiled over at Samantha. “Wasn’t that fun?”  
Samantha glared at her. “Oh yeah, it was a real treat!”  
Felicity’s smile grew wider. “I knew you’d enjoy it.”  
Samantha sighed as Felicity scampered off. “I knew this vacation was a bad idea.”  
******************************************************************  
The rest of the family proceeded to the hotel while Gwen was off searching the countryside for their spewed luggage. “Here,” Samantha handed Felicity a key to their room. “Don’t lose it.”  
“Why can’t I get one too?” Bitty complained.  
“Because you’ll lose it immediately,” Samantha replied.  
“And she won’t?”  
Samantha huffed in annoyance. Bitty was right, Felicity would lose it immediately if she didn’t try to use it in some extreme, magical stunt first. “Whatever. I’m going to go check on Gwen and the luggage so you’re free to do whatever you want---”  
Felicity grinned.  
“On second thought,” Samantha added and Felicity’s smile fell. “Go to find the room. Stay there until I get back and please, try not to blow anything up.”  
“But that’s boring!” Felicity blurted out.  
Samantha glared at her and Felicity said, “I meant,whatever you say.”  
“Good. That’s what I like to hear.”  
“Mother dearest,” Felicity mumbled under her breath and Bitty giggled. Emily was just grateful Samantha didn’t hear. She really didn’t want to witness a fight between the two of them.  
“Okay, now that we got rid of her,” said Felicity, “let’s go explore a bit. This hotel is amazing!”  
“But Samantha said we’re supposed to go find the room!” Emily .  
“Oh Emily, don’t be such a stick in the mud. Nothing bad could possibly happen to us. It’ll be fun.”  
But Emily wasn’t to be swayed. “No. Come on Bitty, let’s go find the room.” She took her younger sister’s hand and lead her away.  
Felicity sighed. “Fine! Suit yourself, more adventure for me that way.”  
*****************************************************************  
Brrring! Brrring! Smith sighed tiredly. The phone kept ringing. He hadn’t even met his Playroom guests yet and they were already proving to be bossy and demanding in ordering massive amounts of room service. “Man, these people must be pigs,” Smith muttered as he loaded up his arms with all sorts of dishes.  
He took the back servant’s stairs, his evil step brother put a spell on the elevator so every time Smith used it he was ejected through the roof, all the way up to the fifty second floor. Smith was the only employee that used the stairs and he found it to be quite creepy at times with all the cobwebs and dust. Today, he was a bit unsettled to hear a thump, thump, almost like approaching footsteps. “Ciao?” Smith called out. “Who’s there?”  
The thumping stopped. Must have been the rats, Smith thought. He hoped his brother hadn’t put another magic mutating spell on them so they would viciously attack like last time. Smith continued up the stairs and then he heard it again. He paused, froze in place, and crooked his head listening closely. “Show yourself! I know you’re there!”  
Suddenly a flash of light blinded Smith and a dark figure tackled him to the ground. He gave a muffled grunt surprise and dishes shattered as they clanged down several flights of stairs. Smith struggled to stand and he felt magical ropes tighten around him as they bound him to the wall. “Alright brother,” Smith’s tone was biting, “enough is enough! Release me!”  
“Brother?” A voice questioned, a voice much to high to belong to any man. “Who said anything about a brother?”  
Smith heard a pop of magic and his vision cleared. He gasped to see the face of a girl, the most beautiful girl he’d ever laid eyes on. Fierce green eyes looked at him in determination and bright red hair stuck out in every which way beneath her bonnet. She wore a full length colonial gown that looked like it came straight out of a history textbook and this intrigued him because most girls he knew would never be caught dead in public wearing something like that.  
“Who are you?” The girl demanded to know. “And who are you working for?”  
“I could ask the same of you,” Smith said. He let out a moan as the ropes pulled tighter around him.  
“Answer me! You were behind that plane attack, weren’t you? You will pay for endangering my family!”  
“I don’t. . .”Smith was losing air fast, “know. . .what. . .you’re talking about.” His face flushed purple but he had enough air left to say, “I’m just a bellhop.”  
The girl laughed. “Just a bellhop indeed! Then why are you sneaking up the back staircase?”  
Smith nearly passed out but she twisted her hand and magically loosened the ropes a little. “I was not sneaking!” Smith said in outrage. “I don’t know who you are or why you suddenly felt the need to attack me because I’m just a poor bellhop named Smith trying to do my job the hard way because my evil brother is out to get me! And now, thanks to you, he has another reason to fire me.”  
“Mmm,” the girl pondered knowing he was telling the truth yet wanting to toy with him anyway. “Why should I believe you?”  
“I’m completely unarmed and know absolutely nothing about whatever it is you’re jabbering on about! If I really was in league with some villains society----”  
“Ah-ha! So you are evil!”  
“What? No! Is this how you greet all strangers? By accusing them of being evil?”  
The girl nodded. “It’s much safer that way.”  
Confused by this twisted logic Smith said, “Sei pazzo!”  
Her face darkened and in fear of what she might do Smith hastily added, “And why are you lurking in a dark stairwell anyway?”  
“I’m not lurking!”  
“Oh sure, you’re not. What’s your name by the way?”  
She tossed her ponytail over her shoulder. “That’s for me to know and you to wonder.”  
Smith stared at her for a moment and she stared back, hands on her hips with fierce determination blazing in her eyes. “Okay, whatever,” he said. “So what do you plan on doing with me? You can’t keep me here forever.”  
“Well, you seem harmless enough so I guess I’ll let you go. But know that I’m watching you.” With a blast of magic, she thrust her hand forward and the ropes binding Smith to the wall suddenly came undone causing him to fall to the floor. “I’m Felicity by the way.” She bobbed a clumsy, off balance curtsy that nearly sent her toppling down the stairs. “How do you do?”  
What a strange person, Smith thought. “I’m doing horribly actually and it's all your fault!”  
“My fault?! What did I do?”  
Smith rolled his eyes and started walking. “Wait!” she called after him. “Where are you going?”  
“Back to the kitchen!” Smith called over his shoulder. “You’re welcome to come but I doubt they’ll let you get away with kidnapping down there.”  
Felicity shrugged. “Why not? I might as well come, I’ve got nothing better to do.”  
******************************************************************  
Felicity galloped down the hall, her skirts swishing with every step. “So this is where you work? It’s beautiful here! What do you do all day? Do you save the world by taking out evil villians? I’ve done that, a bunch of times actually and---”  
Smith snorted. “You nearly destroy the world just by being in it.”  
“Hey! That’s not very nice and I’ll have you know that I’m very good at what I do.”  
“Which is what exactly?”  
She tossed her ponytail again and turned her back on him. “Also for me to know and you to wonder.”  
He paused and looked down at the bouncing ball of energy before him. “Yeah, okay and the kitchen is this way.” Smith tried to squeeze past but she surprised him by gripping his arm tightly.  
“Wait!” Her bright green eyes stared intently into his. Smith was caught in a sea of excitement and found himself captivated by this enchantment she had over him. Her lips parted as if she were about to say something very serious and then, “Why are we going to the kitchen again?”  
Smith shook his head and jerked his arm away as he kept walking. “I’m going to the kitchen because it’s my job to serve the people of this hotel. You are here because---”  
“Ooo!” Felicity squealed. Another bellhop came out of the elevator with an empty luggage cart. “I love these things!”  
Smith just sighed. The strange girl dove onto the cart and rolled away in the opposite direction. This girl intrigued him but he had a job to do. She had already gotten him into enough trouble as it was.  
******************************************************************  
“Where’s my room service?!” Bitty F. screamed into the phone fifty two floors above them.  
“Shh!” Emily shushed. “Inside voice Bitty, please!”  
“Oh right, sorry,” Bitty F. whispered then went right back to speaking loudly again. “You’re my bellhop! You should have been here by now!”  
Emily rolled her eyes and went back to reading. There was a pause as the person on the other side said something.  
“What do you mean a crazy red headed girl attacked you in the stairwell?”  
Emily looked up from her book. Felicity. Oh no, she thought, Samantha won’t be pleased when I tell her about this.  
“I don’t care what you’re excuse is, just get here! Now! I’m hungry!” Bitty F. slammed the phone back into place. “What I would give for some decent help around here!”  
A few minutes later there was a knock at the door. “Oh Emily!” said Bitty F. “Would you be a dear and get that for me?”  
Why? It’s your room service, Emily thought but she nodded mutely and got up anyway.  
Emily opened the door to find a young bellhop, near her own age, struggling to balance trays upon trays of Bitty’s favorite snacks. “Here,” said Emily. “Let me help you.” She reached to take something when the tray slipped from his fingers. They caught it at just the same moment and he lifted his eyes to meet hers. A faint blush rose to her cheeks.  
“Grazie,” he said. “Come ti chiami?”  
“Emily.”  
Her eyes were a soft gentle blue and Smith couldn’t help but notice that they lacked the intensity of the bright green ones belonging to the crazy girl her had met moments earlier. Like the crazy, Emily has beautiful red hair but hers was cropped short and very neat whereas Miss nut job had very long messy hair she kept stuffed under a colonial mob cap. Emily also wore a dress but it was straight out of the 1940s, not colonial America and it wasn’t anywhere near as filthy dirty as Felicity’s.  
“Hello!” Bitty F. cried. “Still waiting here! Would you two please stop staring at each other?”  
“Oh right,” said Smith as he tore his gaze away from Emily.  
Emily had finally worked up enough courage and was about to speak when---  
“Guys! You would not believe the amount of fountains this place has!”  
\---the door burst open and in comes Felicity, right on time, looking disheveled, messy, and unusually wet.  
“You again?!” Smith exclaimed. “I thought I got of rid---”  
“Smith? What are you doing here?”  
“Wait,” said Emily. “You know each other?”  
“Yes!” Felicity shouted as Smith protested, “No!”  
Emily frowned as Felicity put an arm around Smith. “Of course we know each other! He’s my new best friend!”  
“Oh no I’m not!” Smith hurried to remove her arm. “You have been in this country all of five minutes and already you accused me of being evil. And you almost got me fired!”  
Emily’s eyes widened. “You almost got him fired?”  
“Oh baloney,” Felicity waved the issue away. “He’s just being dramatic.”  
“Excuse me,” said Bitty F. She wrestled a tray of food away from Smith. “I’ll take that!”  
“You didn’t answer my question,” said Smith.  
“Well,” said Felicity, “you never asked it!”  
“What are you doing here?”  
“What are you doing here?”  
“Since you’re all hopelessly clueless,” said Bitty F. with a big mouth full of food. “Let me enlighten you. Smith, meet my adopted sisters, Felicity the nutcase---”  
“Hey!”  
“And Emily the sane, boring one.”  
Emily felt her face heat up.  
“We all live as one big, happy family on 742 Play Road Massachusetts.  
“You mean to say,” Smith’s eyes widened in horror as worry lines etched themselves as across this features, “That I am the personal bellhop to that thing?” he pointed to Felicity.  
Bitty F. nodded. “Yes!” Felicity shouted. “We’re gonna have so much fun this week!”  
Smith closed his eyes as he banged his head against the wall. Emily giggled. Smith said, “Well, I really need to be going---”  
“Aw! But you just got here!” Felicity interrupted.  
“I’ll be back.” He added under his breath, “Unfortunately.”  
Emily laughed quietly. Smith heard and it was she he was looking at when he said, “I have the evening shift off tomorrow. If you’re interested, I could maybe give you a private tour of Rome.”  
“Ooo!” Felicity squealed. “Italy! At night! How romantic! I’d love to come. Thanks for the invite, I’ll be there!”  
‘Um. . .,” said Smith, “I wasn’t---”  
“I can’t wait!” Felicity ushered him out and waved as she slammed the door behind him. “See you tomorrow!”  
******************************************************************  
The next day was a very busy one for our Playroom friends. Samantha keeps a tight, rigid schedule but even then there is room for something to go horribly wrong. In Pretend Friend Ville, the Leaning Tower of Pisa is actually called the Leaning Tower of Pizza and it’s made of well, you guessed it, pizza.  
Gwen stared up at it in a mix of awe and wonder as she read the sign, “The Leaning Tower of Pizza, a slice of heaven on earth.”  
“Get over yourself Gwen,” said Samantha. “That pizza is older than you are.”  
“Not by much, I’m an elf, remember?”  
Samantha chose to ignore that comment and instead gathered the troops. “I’m with Bitty, Emily you’re with Big D. and Felicity you’re with Gwen. here are your group schedules for the week.” She handed an envelope to each group.  
“Aw, you’re making us suffer through an opera and an art museum?” Gwen complained as she read over Felicity’s shoulder.  
“Yes Gwen,” said Samantha. “I am making you appreciate fine art in hopes you might actually learn something.”  
Felicity snorted. “Yeah, that’s not going to happen. We’re on vacation Samantha! Enough with the educational stuff. Can’t we do something fun?”  
“Some people think it is fun and you’d do well to---”  
Felicity dashed off without listening. “Come along Gwen, let’s climb to the very top of this tower.”  
Samantha sighed heavily. She rolled her eyes and commented to Emily as they watched Felicity and Gwen run up to the top. “She’ll never learn, will she?”.  
******************************************************************  
“Did you hear that?” Felicity and Gwen ignored the Danger! Keep Out! Warning Structure Highly Unstable! Signs as they made their way up the dark, creepy, spider filled stairs of the Leaning Tower of Pizza.  
Gwen jumped. “H-hear w-what?”  
Thump, thump, whisper, whisper. “That?”  
“No, did you?”  
“I think someone is hiding in here. Or following us.”  
Thump thump, followed by male shouting, “You idiot! All our plans---”  
“Shh!”  
Gwen looked at Felicity in wide eyed terror. She said in a high squeaky voice, “Did you---?”  
Felicity nodded and moved towards the sounds.  
“Felicity! Wait! Where are you going?” Gwen said a little too loudly.  
The thumping stopped and a gruff male voice demanded, “Who’s there?”  
Felicity clamped a hand over Gwen’s mouth and whispered in her ear, “Stay calm and quiet so they don’t discover us. These guys are up to no good and I am going to get to the bottom of it. You can either stay hidden over here or come with me but I’m going to try and get closer. Nod if you understand.”  
Gwen nodded. Felicity continued, “We could attack, we have the element of surprise on our side but we’re out numbered and don’t really know what these guys are up to. They could be doing something perfectly legal.”  
Gwen pried Felicity’s fingers off her face. “Ha! Legal? In an off limits part of a famous monument?”  
“Well, you never know and I don’t want to do anything hasty.”  
Gwen snorted. “Like you’ve never done anything rash!”  
“Sta zitto! Don’t make me use the duct tape on you.”  
Gwen stayed silent, knowing that was a threat Felicity would follow through on. They crept forward together, Gwen whimpering as she clung onto Felicity’s skirt. Felicity rolled her eyes and Gwen and strained her ears to listen closely.  
“The old man isn’t going to know what hit him.”  
“Yeah, we’re finally gonna get him, boss.” He snickered.  
“Quiet fool! It’s Mr. Senator Boss Man to you. Everything is in place. The laws will be passed and then we’ll get him and his cronies one by one.”  
“And the best part is,” said the sidekick, “Our good pal Giovanni is finally going to pay for what he did to us all those years ago. Italy will be avenged!”  
Gwen gasped. Felicity hurried to put a hand over her mouth but it was too late. The damage had been done.  
“Who’s there?” A bright flashlight shone on their hiding place but not before Felicity grabbed Gwen and darted behind a barrel of pizza sauce.  
“Did you see something boss?” the sidekick asked.  
“No, but I know someone is here.”  
“Is it the cops? The fuzz? The P-I-Gs?”  
“No you imbecile! If there were any real authorities in this country then we would have been caught a long time ago. I mean really, the police in this city are much too easy to bribe. No, these people are hiding from us.”  
Gwen was hyperventilating which only made their situation all the more dire.  
“Why?” said the sidekick.  
The boss man sighed in aggravation. “Need I explain everything? The people in this very room with us must not want us to know they’re here which means. . .?”  
The sidekick nodded. “Oh. Which means. . .?”  
“Shut up and help me find them!”  
Felicity bit her lip, unsure of what to do. She glanced at the sauce barrels and at the open window overlooking the cobblestone streets and suddenly she had an idea. “Gwen!” Felicity hissed. By now, Gwen was curled into a ball, rocking back and forth. “Pull yourself together! On the count of three I am going to throw you out the window and hope you land in that dumpster behind that restaurant over there. If not, you’ll do a faceplant on the cobblestone street. Either way, I want you to run to the nearest dark alley and wait there until I find you. Tell no one of what we witnessed. Got it?”  
“What? Wait. . . no! You can’t---”  
“One!” She grabbed Gwen by the scruff of the neck.  
“Felicity! Wait---”  
“Two!” Felicity swung her sister backwards.  
“What are you---”  
“Three!” Gwen went flying off the Leaning Tower of Pizza.  
At the base of the tower, Samantha and company looked up. “Is it a bird?” said Bitty F.  
“No,” said Big D. “Is it a plane?”  
“No,” said Emily. “It’s a---”  
“Gwen!” Samantha shouted. She took off in a run.  
Meanwhile on top of the tower Felicity was trapped between two villians. She crouched behind the sauce barrels and they continued to approach, smiling to themselves. “Come out, come out wherever you are!”  
“We got ‘em now boss!”  
Felicity squeezed her eyes shut, murmuring a quick prayer. Then with a great mighty heave she flipped the sauce barrel on its side and sent it rolling towards them. Barrel after barrel she sent rolling at her attackers.  
The sidekick screamed when several barrels crashed onto him and knocked him down with such force the barrels exploded causing sauce to pour everywhere. His boss was quicker, darting around barrel after barrel as they crashed into the flimsy pizza wall behind him. A police siren sounded in the distance and Mr. Senator Boss Man said, “Forget her! Let’s get out of here!”  
Completely covered in pizza sauce, the two men ran down the stairs slipping and falling as they went. Felicity was about to follow when she realized the tower was surrounded by police. Hopefully they’ll be caught, she thought with a smile. But then so will I. Her smile faded.  
With a running start, Felicity gracefully leapt out the window. The wind caught her skirt just right and acted as a parachute as it gently lowered her to the ground. As soon as her feet touched, Felicity hiked up her skirts and took off in a run. Now all she had to do was find Gwen---before Samantha did.  
******************************************************************  
“Breaking news!” News media all over Italy was reporting, “Unexpected trouble at the Leaning Tower of Pizza today when two kids were caught on video sneaking into a highly unstable section under repairs. The delinquents vandalized two hundred barrels of sauce mortar and collapsed several walls. The police are asking for any information leading to the suspects, both American tourists. The Tower is closed for repairs until further notice.”  
Samantha picked up the remote and turned the T.V. off with a click. “Alright Gwen, talk to me.”  
Gwen held a bag of ice to her bruised face. She did not land anywhere near the dumpster. “Talk about what? I love to talk. I could talk all day---”  
“I know it was you and Felicity who did it. Now tell me what actually happened.”  
“Well, if you already know---”  
“Gwen! Did Felicity throw you off the tower?”  
“Um. . .maybe?”  
“So that’s a yes.”  
Gwen did not respond.  
“So Felicity threw you off the tour and then vandalized the place. Why?”  
“She told me not to tell you.”  
“What? Why not?”  
“It just doesn’t make sense,” Gwen muttered with a frown.  
“What doesn’t make sense?”  
“If the cameras caught us then they should have caught. . .”  
“Who? Come on Gwen, tell me what’s really going on here. Or else Felicity is going to be in big trouble and not just with me.”  
“First the police, then the media. . .the whole nation is corrupt!”  
Samantha rolled her eyes. “What else is new? The whole world is corrupt.”  
“True, but---”  
“Gwen, I know what you’re thinking and there is nothing you can do.”  
“But---”  
“No buts. You could have and should have been arrested today and if the authorities really are as corrupt as you say then bailing you out isn’t going to be as easy as it is at home.”  
“Yeah, and who's fault do you think that is?”  
“Felicity.”  
“How do you think you’ll stop her?”  
“I’ll try and talk some sense into her.”  
“Ha! As if that’ll work!”  
Samantha sighed. “I know. Just don’t follow her lead and do anything stupid, okay? I don’t want to start any wars or anything.”  
“Oh relax,” said Gwen. “I’m sure it won’t come to that.”  
“Yet,” Samantha added. “With Felicity, it’s a possibility.”  
******************************************************************  
Felicity kept running, pausing only long enough at the entrance of every dark alley to check for Gwen. She saw no sign of her and as she strayed farther and farther from any probable landing sights Felicity began to think, That rat! She must’ve gone back to the hotel without me. If she went to Samantha. . .her eyes blazed at the possibility, I’ll kill her.  
Felicity wasn’t paying any attention to where she was going and suddenly she smacked into something, or rather someone, hard. “Oof!”  
“Watch where you’re going lady!”  
“Sorry.” Felicity gasped. “Smith? Is that you? What are you doing here, this far from the hotel? And why such a poor, bad neighborhood?”  
Smith picked himself up, dusted himself off, and glared meanly at Felicity. “I do have a life outside of work you know and just because this neighborhood is poor doesn’t mean it’s bad.”  
“Well,” Felicity said snootily as if such a statement ruffled her feathers. “You don’t have to be so mean about it.”  
Smith just rolled his eyes and started to walk away. Felicity called, “Wait! Where are you going?”  
“Home,” he said over his shoulder.  
“Wait!” He stopped.  
“You live here?”  
“Yes Felicity, I live here.” Smith pointed to a hollowed out, window smashed, graffiti covered building.  
Felicity gasped. “There?”  
“Yes Felicity, there. Now if you’d stop gaping like a rich fool and come in I’m sure my mother would love to feed you.”  
“Don’t you mean meet me?”  
“No, I mean feed you. We are Italians after all.”  
******************************************************************  
Emily spent several hour that evening getting ready for Smith’s private tour of Rome. First, she had to take advantage of the hotel spa and then she had to find just the right outfit. “Which one Bitty, red or blue?”  
“Neither.”  
“Okay, then how about---”  
“Emily, I don’t care! You look fine in either one.”  
“Fine, fine? Or fine---”  
“Emily! Get dressed already! He’s gonna be here soon.”  
Emily nodded. “Right, right you are but---”  
“Oh for the love of---” Bitty F. threw up her hands. “Emily, come one!”  
“But. . .”  
And so it went. Until finally, Emily was all dolled up and beautiful, waiting for that special knock at the door. But it never came.  
An hour passed. Then another and another. Emily checked her watch, the door, and the phone repeatedly but to no avail. Every time the door opened her hopes would rise only to be utterly crushed when it was Gwen, Bitty F. or Samantha. They would come in quietly, giving a slight shake of their head. Emily, always the optimist, waited and wondered with patience.  
Hours passed. No Smith. And no Felicity. To Samantha, that meant only one thing. Felicity was going to pay and she was going to pay dearly.  
******************************************************************  
The moon shone through the window as Felicity gently eased opened the door to their hotel. She tiptoed in, cringing when the hinges squeaked. It was past midnight and she hoped---  
“Where have you been?” Samantha’s arms were crossed, her foot tapping impatiently and her nostrils flaring.  
Felicity winced and then forced a cheery smile. “Calm down, Samantha! I wasn’t doing anything bad.”  
“I’ll be the judge of that and the last time you said something like that we were all thrown in a government jail for your illegal time travel activities.”  
“But it all worked out in the end!”  
Samantha snorted. “Yeah, no thanks to you.”  
“Hey! I got us out and exposed an evil villain’s plot to take over the world using time travel. It’s not my fault the U.S. has too many silly rules regarding time travel. They should have thanked me since the scoundrel almost assassinated the president, remember?”  
Samantha shuddered for indeed that awful day was seared into her memory forever. “Where were you tonight, Felicity?”  
“Nowhere.”  
“I don’t believe that, not for a second.”  
“Out.”  
“Out with who? And please tell me it wasn’t Smith. And please tell me you weren’t trying to hunt down the guys who shot down our plane.”  
“So what if I was? Smith is my friend too and isn’t it our duty as good, law abiding citizens to rid the world of evil villains and corrupt governments?”  
“Felicity! We’re on vacation from work! And this is not our country. We have no right to meddle in their affairs.”  
“That was a government plane that hit us Samantha! It has something to do with the Senator guy on the tower today and Giovanni. I just know it does. There is something very wrong here and I want to find out what so I can help fix it.”  
“Just because you are from a time period when a certain time period when a particular group of people did not agree with a certain governments rule does not mean all governments now are evil.”  
“But this one is! Look at the evidence! And I could help them. You can’t just sit around doing nothing when people need help you can give.”  
“Felicity Merriman!” Samantha used her stern mom voice, a tone Felicity absolutely hates. “Stop it, stop it right now. There is nothing you can do except endanger this family. Personally, I don’t care what you do to Gwen. You can throw her to the moon for all I care.”  
“Hey!” Gwen shouted from her bed. “Person with a bruised face over here!”  
“Shut up Gwen!” Both samantha and Felicity replied. Gwen muttered something incomprehensible.  
Felicity took advantage and was about to slip away when Samantha grabbed her arm. “Felicity, we’re not done yet.” Felicity sighed.  
“Again, Gwen doesn’t matter---”  
“Heard that!” said Gwen.  
“But what about the rest of us?” Samantha continued. “If it had been Emily up there on that tower today or even worse, Bitty or Big D.? What would you have done then?”  
Felicity hung her head. “But it was Gwen---”  
“Felicity, think for a minute before you go galloping off, would you? And please, please, please for once don’t be the hero. You cannot save everyone and everything---”  
“But---”  
“No, Felicity. Enough craziness. You have risked our lives too many times before in the past and for this vacation at least I want us to try and be a normal American family on vacation.”  
Felicity pouted.  
“That doesn’t mean you can’t have fun but---”  
“Yeah, yeah, I know. But it’s not about having fun. It’s about saving people and ridding the world of evil.”  
“Felicity, we are done talking about this and you are done being the hero of Italy. Now, were you off with Smith tonight or not?”  
“Oh Samantha, Smith is the most wonderful, hardworking, honest gentleman ever! I don’t care that he’s poorer than church mice he’s great and---”  
“Shh!” Samantha glanced over at Emily’s bed. Her eyes were closed but Samantha knew she heard.  
Felicity only lowered her volume a notch or so. “He took me on a tour of Rome. He’s quite strong and handsome in the moonlight on a gondola ride. And we actually got along well after he stopped being hostile to me.”  
“He’s the hostile one?” Samantha echoed in disbelief.  
“Yes,” Felicity continued absentmindedly, as if she hadn’t a care in the world. “I met his family, they’re really nice except that evil step brother of his.” She gasped as a thought occurred to her. “I bet he’s involved with Mr. Senator Boss Man and the guys who blew up the plane!”  
“Hold it!” Samantha interrupted. “Just because you don’t like someone---”  
“Doesn’t mean they’re evil,” Felicity finished. “I got that but this time---”  
“Felicity! Snap out of it! You were talking about---”  
“Oh, Smith!” Felicity sighed dreamily as she sank comfortably into a recliner. “Oh, Samantha! I think I’m in love!”  
Samantha was skeptical but Emily held in tears.  
“And guess what?!” Felicity could barely contain her excitement. “Smith invited me out to dinner tomorrow, just me and him. But that isn’t all.”  
Oh no, Samantha thought. “He’s taking the day off tomorrow! I invited him to hang out with us. I can’t wait!”  
******************************************************************  
“Group one, Felicity, Emily and Smith. You are going to the art museum, the opera, and---”  
Felicity made a face.  
“---wherever Smith deems appropriate.”  
Felicity grabbed Smith’s arm. “Come on Smith, let’s go!”  
“Um. . .don’t you think we should wait for Emily?”  
Felicity sighed, only it came out as more of a frustrated growl. “Fine, I guess.”  
Smith held out his arm out to Emily and she hesitantly took it. “It isn’t everyday I get to parade around Rome with two lovely girls on my arm, now is it?”  
Felicity giggled. “He called me lovely!”  
“Wow, you’d think she’s never been given a compliment before,” Smith murmured to Emily. It was her turn to laugh.  
“Are you guys talking about me?”  
Smith and Emily only laughed harder. Maybe this won’t be so bad, Emily thought as she looked up at Smith. He winked at her. And then Felicity had to ruin it again.  
“Smith! Look over there! What’s that? Let’s go!” Felicity pulled Smith away from Emily with so much force Emily thought she would dislocate his arm. Smith laughed as he willingly followed. It seemed to Emily that he admired Felicity, how much was yet to be seen, but it was clear that romance was in Rome and for the rest of the day Emily was to be their shadow.  
******************************************************************  
Emily spent more time chasing after Felicity and Smith than she did with them. During the opera, Felicity awhile and then convinced Smith to sneak out with her. Sneak out they did but they left Emily behind. By the time she realized they were gone it took her a good three hours to find them. At the art museum, Felicity used magic to enchant all the statues and paintings. It freaked Emily out along with many other unsuspecting tourists but to Smith who was in on it, it was great fun. Even though he didn’t yet care to admit it, this crazy colonial girl fascinated him and with her he was having the time of his life. Smith had had a hard life so far and it was good for him to be around someone as fun loving as Felicity. Smith had never even smiled before Felicity came barreling into his life but with her he laughed all the live long day. Captivated by green eyes, fiery red hair, and spontaneous personality, Smith didn’t even notice the shy yet equally beautiful Emily. She just seemed to fade into the background along with every other girl who was not Felicity.  
“Table for two please,” Smith requested.  
“Giovanni!” Felicity exclaimed.  
“Do I know you?”  
“Yes! I mean no, but you met my adopted sister Gwen---”  
“Ah, Gwen. Yes, I remember. I hope you kids came hungry because today you are my very special guests. Table.” He clapped his hands and a table for two appeared in the center of the room on a raised platform. “Enjoy!”  
Smith pulled out Felicity’s chair and she graciously sat down. “Um. . .guys?” said a timid voice behind them.  
“What do you want Emily?” Felicity snapped.  
“Um. . .where am I supposed sit?”  
“Don’t know, don’t care.”  
“What Felicity means is,” Smith said, “ask Giovanni. He’ll find you a seat. Everyone is welcome here. He actually helped my family once when we were living under a bridge.”  
“You lived under a bridge?!” Felicity exclaimed in alarm.  
“Yeah, but it was fine. Cold, wet, and miserable until Giovanni took us in. Then I found a job and a better place to live so we no longer had to impose on the old guy. Everyone in my neighborhood has been helped by Giovanni in some way.”  
“Aw, my poor, poor, poor, Smith! Don’t worry, I’ll never let anything like that happen to you ever again. Order anything you want Smithy dear, I’m paying for today’s meal. Why are you still here Emily? Go ask Giovanni!”  
“Um. . .right. . .okay, go up and talk to a stranger. You can do this Emily, you can.” Emily took a deep breath and marched up to Giovanni before she lost her courage. “Excuse me? Sir?”  
“Oh goodness! Where did you come from?” Giovanni looked down at Emily while balancing three trays on each arm.  
Emily opened her mouth, closed it, and blushed until her whole face was red.  
“Just sit over there,” Giovanni gestured to a lonely, broken table in a dark corner. “We’re a full house today Miss, and that’s the only table available right now. Wait there, I’ll have someone take your order at some point.” Giovanni rushed off to the kitchen leaving Emily even more unsure and embarrassed than usual.  
Hesitantly, she went back to Felicity and Smith’s table. “He told me to go sit over there,” she pointed to the dark table covered in spiderwebs. “So I guess I’ll go now.”  
“Yeah whatever,” Felicity said as she clasped Smith’s hands and leaned across the table to gaze deep into his eyes.  
“I’m really leaving now,” Emily continued. “I’ll just go sit over there, all alone. Just me, party of one.”  
“Have fun,” said Smith. He only had eyes for Felicity.  
Emily swallowed hard and walked away, trying desperately not to cry. I’ll just go sit alone as usual, she thought, and mourn my nonexistent social life. Emily sat in the shadows of shyness, forgotten by everyone, even the generous Giovanni.  
******************************************************************  
“Oh, Smith,” Felicity sighed.  
“Oh, Felicity,” Smith murmured.  
“Oh, how I’m going to be sick,” said Emily. They were standing outside the door to their hotel room and Felicity was busy bidding goodbye to her beloved Smith.  
“Every year,” said Smith, “Giovanni hosts a festival for all the poor street rats of Rome. Most of the city turns out for the party and I was wondering---”  
“Yes!” Felicity shouted. “We would love to come!”  
“Alright then, I’ll be back---”  
“In an hour? Sure, I’ll be waiting for you dear Smith. Come along Emily, we have a lot of work to do to make me look presentable.”  
“That won’t be too hard,” Smith said, “for you are already the most beautiful girl---”  
“Oh, he’s such a charmer! Don’t you agree, Emily?” Felicity rose up on her toes to kiss Smith on the cheek. When she smiled at him, his heart nearly exploded it was pounding so hard. “I can’t wait!”  
******************************************************************  
Samantha was just a little later, like a couple hours, than expected returning to the hotel for she literally had to pry Gwen off the Leaning Tower of Pizza. For such a skinny girl, she could really pack it away. As she walked down the hall, Samantha heard vicious arguing and screams arising from one of the rooms. Boy, she thought, would I hate to be related to that and then realized she was.  
“Give it back Emily!”  
“No! You always get whatever you want when you want it. It’s not fair! Why can’t I have something nice too?”  
“This is my party, he invited me, and that’s my dress! Stop pulling! You’re gonna rip it! Go back to being the little mouse of a girl you always are!”  
Samantha knew she had better intervene before this got even more out of hand. “Darn it!” She rattled the doorknob, realizing she was locked out. “They’re going to kill each other in there.”  
Samantha pounded on the door but paused when she heard, rip! Followed by a gasp and Felicity screaming, “I hate you!”  
Then a quieter, softer but no less deadly voice said, “No Felicity, not nearly as much as I despise you.”  
Then the door was yanked open with a blast of magic. Both girls stopped instantly when a voice demanded, “What on earth is going on in here?!”  
Felicity immediately threw Emily under the bus. “She started it!”  
“No, Felicity---”  
“I didn’t do---”  
“She started it!”  
“No, she started it!”  
“I don’t care who started it,” Samantha said, “Because I’m ending it. Now, DROP. THAT. DRESS.”  
They released their grip on the now ruined gown at the same time sending them both crashing into a heap on the floor.  
“Good,” Samantha commented. “Now Emily, tell me what happened.  
Felicity protested. “But---”  
Samantha silenced her with a look. She said to Emily very gently, “Please, tell me what happened.”  
“No.”  
Both Samantha and Felicity looked up in surprise.  
“You know what? I don’t even care anymore. Felicity, just go without me. You want Smith? Well, you can have him.”  
Samantha tried, “Emily---”  
“No, if Felicity wants it then I don’t.” Emily bolted from the room, tears streaming down her cheeks.  
“Emily!” Samantha called. She glared at Felicity. “Look what you did! I hope you’re happy now, Felicity.” Then she ran after Emily.  
Felicity only felt the tiniest twinge of guilt. She didn’t know what to make of this for that was probably the most she’d ever heard Emily speak. Emily unnerved her most days, her silence making Felicity feel as if Emily was watching her every move only to judge and condemn her actions. Felicity would never dare admit this to anyone but she tended to be a little wary of Emily. But because she was so shy, it was easy to forget about Emily all together.  
With impeccable timing, Smith knocked on the door. He extended a bouquet of flowers to Felicity with a smile. “Are you ready?”  
Felicity sighed. “Sure? Why not? Let’s go.”  
Smith paused. “Is Emily coming?”  
“Probably not.”  
“What does that mean?”  
“It means, forget her. Let’s go have the time of our lives.”  
******************************************************************  
“Breaking news!”  
“Oh, shut up,” Gwen mumbled reaching for the remote.  
“Restaurant owner Giovanni rallied supporters in Ro---”  
The T.V. turned off. “No!”Gwen shouted as she hurried to turn it back on again.  
“---saying how unfair and unjust the new taxes are. He said. . .” The camera flashed to a clip of Giovanni standing in front of the government buildings with a thousand supporters chanting behind him, “Give us our money! Give us a chance! Give us our freedom! Give us Italy!”  
Giovanni stood up at the platform. “Everyday the poor keep getting poorer and everyday the rich keep getting richer. This nation is in shambles and it is because of men like him!” He pointed to a picture and Gwen’s mouth fell open. It was Mr. Senator Boss Man, the very same guy she and Felicity had seen plotting on top of the Leaning Tower of Pizza.  
“Italy!” Giovanni shouted. “Our government has been corrupted. Now is our chance to fight! Now is our chance for change!”  
The picture on the screen flashed back to the newsroom. “The Senator’s reply cannot be discussed at this time but police forces have made several arrests and are monitoring the situation so our country does not become corrupted by the lies of Giovanni. Giovanni, the madman himself, is still on the loose. This is an interesting new path for Giovanni considering his history as a politician---”  
Gwen’s mouth gaped open.  
“Giovanni’s rebels have attempted several attacks on the leaders of Italy. It seems Giovanni is not the harmless, old restaurant owner he pretends to be. Giovanni claims peaceful protests yet his men have kidnapped several senators and even attempted an assassination of our dear, beloved president. One Senator in particular has promised to lead Italy to greatness and Giovanni to his downfall.”  
Then the news turned to sports and Gwen turned the T.V. off, her mind reeling with the new information. Giovanni, a politician? Protests? Assassination attempts? The Giovanni she knew would never do any of that. Giovanni works best behind the scenes and he tries to stay out of government issues. Since all news media and press are corrupt, biased, liars. . . Gwen nearly collapsed under the weight of a new thought. Giovanni was set up. By who, the government, but why? Then Gwen gasped. The festival. . .  
“Bitty! I’m going out!”  
“What? Why---”  
“If I’m not back with Felicity in two hours then send Samantha after us. I have a feeling something really, really bad is going to happen at that festival.”  
******************************************************************  
“Who knew a poor peoples party could be so much fun!” Felicity exclaimed. A group of guests looked up at her. “Oops,” she whispered. “Sorry, I didn’t mean---”  
Smith laughed and took her hand. “It’s okay, Felicity. Most people here know they’re poor and that it’s far better to be an honest poor man than a rich fool.”  
“In that case,” said Felicity, “let’s get this party started!”  
Smith laughed again, delighted in sharing this moment with Felicity. The party continued on, Felicity stealing all the attention. She made everyone happy that night as she danced on tables, strung up a zip line through the village square, played rough with the little boys, braided flowers into little girl's hair, and sampled everyone’s fine cooking. Everyone loved Felicity, but perhaps not quite as much as Smith.  
“Felicity?” he said softly as they slow danced under the lanterns. Her head was resting on his chest and he thought now was the perfect time for---  
A panting ball of Gwen suddenly came barreling between them. Felicity and Smith jumped apart, Felicity speaking to Gwen as if she were a dog. “What is it girl? Did Bitty fall down the well again?”  
Breathing hard, Gwen shook her head.  
“Okay, then what---”  
“ThenewscasterladyontvsaidthatGiovanniandthesenatorandaplotwithassainationattemptswiththepresidentandpoorrebelsattackingsomethingabouthistoryandhewassetupandnowI’mafraid---”  
“Whoa!” Smith interrupted. “Slow down! Did you catch any of that?” He asked Felicity.  
“Hmm. . .no, I didn’t understand a word of it. But I know someone who could.” She pulled out a phone. “Good thing I’ve got a Gwen whisperer on speed dial.”  
“Hello!” Logan shouted through the phone. They could hear the Antarctic wind whipping in the background.  
“Hey Logan!” Felicity shouted back. “This is Felicity. I have a problem---”  
“You have a what?”  
“Problem!”  
“Program?”  
Felicity rolled her eyes. “Problem! I cannot understand Gwen.”  
“No one can!”  
“Tahtdraeh!” Gwen protested.  
Smith looked at her in surprise. “What language is that?”  
Felicity ignored them and shouted back at Logan, “I know! But she’s trying to say something important and I really need to know what it is.”  
“Okay! Hurry before the line goes dead! We’re in a major storm here!”  
Felicity nodded at Gwen. “Go on, tell her what you told us.”  
Gwen opened her mouth and said, “diarfam’IwondnaputessawehdnayrotsihtuobaginhtemosgnikcattasleberroopdnatnediserpehthtiwstpmettanoitaniassahtiwtolpadnarotanesehtdnainnavoiGtahtdiusvtnoydalrestucswenehT.”  
Felicity and Smith looked at each other in disbelief. “Did she. . .?” “Wasn’t that. . .?”  
“Logan!” Felicity said, “Did you get all that?”  
“Um. . .I’m a little rusty on my ancient eflin languages and Gwen tends to ramble a bit when she’s upset---”  
“Logan!” Felicity shouted impatiently, “Just say it already!”  
“Okay fine, be that way---”  
“Logan!”  
And Logan said in an overly excited Gwen like tone, “The newscaster lady on tv said that Giovanni and the senator and a plot with assassination attempts with the president and poor rebels attacking something about history and he was setup and now I’m afraid.”  
Smith went pale. Even Felicity muttered an, “Oh, my.”  
Logan said, “Who’s Giovanni and what---”  
“Never mind that now!” Felicity hung up on Logan and started running. “Come on, guys! We have to stop something bad from happen---”  
KABOOM! Smoky ash filled the village square as buildings crumbled around them. Gwen nearly fainted. We’re too late, she thought. A helicopter roared overhead. The media, Smith thought bitterly.  
“Snap of of it soldiers!” Felicity barked. “We have work to do! Tend to the wounded! Clear everybody out in the next ten mile radius! Sniff out more bombs and disarm them! Then meet in that dark alley over there if the buildings around it haven’t collapsed here. Hurry! Do as much as you possibly can in a short amount of time. Then we’ll hunt for clues and whoever did this although I think I already have a good idea. Ready, go!”  
Smith, Gwen, and Felicity scattered in all different directions, Smith worried for his friends and family, Gwen wondering how one would go about disarming a bomb and Felicity anxious to see justice served.  
******************************************************************  
“Samantha!”  
“What do you want Bitty?”  
“It’s been two hours!”  
Samantha frowned. “Two hours since what?”  
“I don’t know. I was just supposed to tell you when two hours were up.”  
“Um. . .okay, is there a particular reason? Or---”  
“Gwen!” Bitty F. shouted. “I remember! Gwen said something about---”  
“What? What did Gwen say?”  
“Danger! And Felicity.”  
“What?!! What exactly did Gwen say?”  
“Um. . .I forget.”  
Samantha smacked a hand to her forehead.  
“Oh, I remember! Something about feeling bad? No, that wasn’t it. Oh, oh, oh! The festival! Something bad happening at---”  
“The festival!” Samantha exclaimed. “Gwen went to the festival with Felicity?”  
“Um. . .maybe? I don’t know. I try to avoid you guys and your problems as much as possible.”  
Samantha sighed. “Alright, I’m going to that festival. Bitty stay here---”  
“Who do I tell?”  
“What?”  
Bitty F. nodded. “Who do I tell? When you don’t come back, then who do I tell?”  
Samantha said grimly, “If I don’t come back then we are all probably dead somewhere or in prison. But. . .call Nellie. She’ll know what to do.”  
******************************************************************  
Samantha heard the police sirens before she got to the scene of the crime. News media all over Italy was reporting that Giovanni’s rebels attempted to blow up Rome. Samantha wondered how anyone could believe that load of garbage when the only area damaged was the poor sector of the city which is where all the “rebels” live. “Excuse me, sir?” Samantha asked the nearest police officer. “What happened here?”  
The officer shrugged. “They’re saying it was another rebel attack. But if you ask me. . .oh, never mind.”  
“What? Please tell me.”  
“Don’t matter much what I think, do it now? It’s all about what the higher ups pay me to think.”  
“But surely you’re entitled to your own opinion?”  
“Of course. But only a dummy would dare express it. And I ain’t no dummy. Now if you’ll excuse me miss, I must ask you to leave. This area is off limits for the investigation. Some investigation that’ll be. They’ll probably just call us all down to the station and pay us to keep our mouths shut. A strange game, politics. It’s all about image, appearance, reputation, who has more money and who is most willing to lie, cheat, and steal to get it. A lot of good that’ll do you in the end times. This Giovanni guy, now he is the only real hero this town has ever had. Undercover like, secretive ways, knows how to get ya where it hurts,” he pounded on this chest, “and a kinder man you’ll never meet. To do this to him, turn him into a scapegoat for all the problems they’ve caused, it’s just plain wrong. They’re afraid, I think. Afraid of what the world would be like if there were more Giovannis out there. A world a little less corrupt. A world with a little more love in it. Now that’s the kinda world you and I want to be living in. Not so with these fancy government types. No, they’re too blinded with power and wrapped up in themselves to share in the common good. But you didn’t hear any of that from me.”  
Samantha nodded in a kind of dazed, stunned silence. “I didn’t hear anything from you.”  
He winked at her. “Good, you and me kid, we know what matters.”  
They started to part ways when Samantha suddenly exclaimed, “Wait! My friends, they were at a party here---”  
“If they were injured then they’d be taken to the hospital by now. If not, then they’re in prison. Or. . .” he looked around to make sure no one was listening, “they’re still running free in there.” he gestured to the smoking pile of rubble and hollowed out buildings that looked anything but safe. The officer dropped his voice to a whisper, “I heard a rumor about three kids who organized the evacuation, tended the wounded, disarmed the remaining bombs before they went off, and helped several families escape before we got here and started arresting everyone. Made a lot of higher ups very angry those kids did and they have yet to be caught. Might be your friends.”  
“That sounds like them alright, but how did you know. . .?”  
The man smiled. “Oh, let’s just say I had a funny feeling from a friend.” He pointed up. “Now that’s one higher up I’m glad to serve and you can see Him at work in and through people like your friends. Good day to you miss, and good luck.”  
“Thank you so much!” Samantha called after him. She shook her head in amazement. “Wow, what a nice guy.” Then she went chasing after Felicity in more of a thoughtful mood. The police officer had given her a lot to think about.  
******************************************************************  
Gwen was visibly shaking as she timidly crawled into the dark alley meeting place to await Felicity’s next orders. “Hello?” Gwen called. “Anybody here? Felicity? Smith?”  
Gwen’s eyes began to widen in fright and the hairs on the back of her neck were prickling when she heard heavy breathing and heavy footsteps echoing in the alley behind her. Suddenly it grew closer and someone whispered in her ear, “Boo!”  
Gwen jumped six feet in the air. Felicity doubled over in laughter. “You face! You should have seen your face! I wish I had gotten that on camera!”  
“Hey! That’s not funny!”  
Felicity laughed harder. “Oh, but I think it is.”  
“Where’s Smith?”  
“Right here,” said Smith as he appeared in the alley.  
Felicity bombarded him with questions. “Did you find your family? Are they okay? Did they make it out?”  
“Well, great uncle Anthony didn’t make it. He was helping others get out when the building came down on top of him.”  
“Oh Smith,” Felicity said softly. “I’m so sorry.”  
“It’s okay. He turned one hundred and ten last week. He lived a great life is probably very happy it was him and not his grandchildren or anyone else.”  
“But still. . .why would a government try and kill it’s own people? It just doesn’t make any sense at all. Anyway, what about the rest of your family?”  
Smith hung his head. “My step brother set it up to look like I work with the evil government and was going to turn them in to be arrested. Apparently, my brother “saved” them from me. My mother and sisters are safe in the countryside now but they never want to see me again. They officially disowned me.”  
“Oh, Smith!” Felicity squeezed him tight in a warm hug. She was covered from head to toe in dirt, her skirts were soaking wet and ripped, she smelled like ripe garbage but to Smith she had never looked lovelier. She had risked her life to help others, a quality that only made Smith fall deeper in love with her. “Oh, Smith!” Felicity exclaimed again. “How terrible! What about your father?”  
“He’s been missing for years. I don’t want to talk about it.”  
“Is that why---”  
“Felicity,” Smith said sternly. “I don’t want to talk about it.”  
“Sorry,” she mumbled. “Oh, Smith! I feel just terrible for you! I can’t even begin to imagine how miserable my life would be without my family even though Samantha can be quite the stick in the mud at times. You’re just like us now. An orphan. All alone in the world, feeling the sting of rejection. A misfit, an outcast with no place to call---”  
“Thanks Felicity, but I think I got that.”  
“Poor Smith! Oh! I know how we could help you! Maybe we could adopt---”  
“Oh no you don’t!” said a firm, familiar, authoritative voice. “We are not adopting Smith.”  
“Samantha!” Felicity went pale. “What are you doing here?”  
“What am I doing here?! What am I doing here?!” Samantha echoed.“I’m here to make sure you don’t do something stupid and crazy like adopt Smith. He’s an actual person Felicity, not just some stray cat you can take in off the street.”  
“But why not?” Felicity whined. “He needs a family and we adopt people all the time. He could be like the brother we’ve never wanted.”  
“No, Felicity. And if you haven’t noticed, we don’t just adopt strangers willy nilly. Sorry Smith, but I think you’re old enough to look out for yourself and---”  
“No need to be sorry Miss Samantha,” said Smith. “You couldn’t pay me enough money to be adopted into your family.”  
Felicity gasped. “I’m deeply hurt and offended by that!”  
“I hate to bust up this lovely chat,” said Gwen, “but we’re still running from an evil government here!”  
“Shh!” Felicity hushed. “I think I hear someone. Quick! Everyone into that dumpster! Now!”  
Gwen dove in head first. Smith held out his hand to help Felicity in but she ignored it and cannonballed in on her own. Samantha sighed as she glanced down at her clean, new old fashioned dress. “Why does it always have to be a dumpster?”  
“Come on!” Felicity grabbed her arm and pulled her in. Samantha wrinkled her nose in disgust. Felicity beamed at her.  
“Isn’t this fun?” Felicity whispered.  
“Oh yeah,” Samantha said sarcastically.  
“Shh!” said Gwen. “They’re coming!”  
Outside the dumpster a male voice said, “Did you get the plans?”  
“What plans?”  
“Idiot!” Mr. Senator Boss Man said. “I was relying on you---”  
“The president is sending a man to the hotel tonight.”  
“Which hotel?”  
In the dumpster, Felicity nudged Smith. “Maybe it’s our hotel.”  
Samantha said, “Oh come on, we’re not that lucky.”  
Mr. Senator Boss Man’s henchman said, “The big one with all the Americans.”  
Felicity smiled smugly at Samantha as she mouthed, “I told you so!” Samantha scowled.  
“And you’re sure this mystery man will come through? Because everything is riding on this.”  
“Of course I’m sure! The man will be in the lobby by the conference center, next to the pool.”  
“Good. And no one arrested Giovanni, right?”  
Felicity frowned. Weren’t they trying to catch Giovanni?  
“Right, Giovanni is still running free.”  
“Which is going to make our revenge even sweeter.”  
“If all goes well. It could backfire horribly for everyone in Rome.”  
“But that is a risk we are willing to take.”  
“We’ll exchange the plans, maps, keys to the city and evidence to plant on Giovanni tonight.”  
A slight pause the sidekick asked, “What about those kids?”  
“What kids?”  
“The ones who---”  
“Oh, those kids. Have them arrested and then sentence them to the coliseum reenactments.”  
“What’s that mean?” Felicity whispered to Smith.  
He had gone pale. “Certain death.”  
“Shh!” Samantha hissed. “Zip it and pay attention!”  
Mr. Senator Boss Man continued, “But don’t worry about it if you don’t catch them.”  
“But boss, won’t they--”  
“Ha! They’re just kids. It’s not like they can stop us from conquering Rome and rebuilding her into the great empire she used to be.”  
Gwen’s eyeballs nearly popped out of her head. Felicity growled a warning at her. “Make one sound and I’ll bury you so deep in this dumpster you will never see the light of day again. Got it?”  
Gwen opened her mouth but Felicity held a finger up to it. “Ut-ut-uh, shh! Remember?” Gwen nodded.  
Outside the dumpster, the villains laughter rang out in the alley as they walked away. A few minutes passed before a voice with a thick Italian accent called softly, “They’re gone. You can come out now.”  
“Is it safe?” whispered Smith.  
“I’m not sure,” Samantha replied. “It could be too risky.”  
“Ooo! I know!” Felicity grabbed Gwen.  
“Hey! What are you---”  
Felicity thrust Gwen upward so her head stuck out. “Felicity!” Samantha sighed in exasperation.  
“What? You said you didn’t care about Gwen.”  
“You said what?!” Gwen accused.  
“Shut up and tell me what you see,” said Felicity.  
“I see. . .” Gwen squinted to make out a hooded figure in the dim lighting. “Giovanni!”  
“Yes, yes, it’s me now hush up and tell your friends---”  
“Giovanni!” Felicity popped her head up letting go of Gwen who fell headfirst to the ground.  
“Ouch! Thanks a lot Felicity!”  
“You’re welcome,” Felicity said as she neatly stepped down.  
“What are you doing here, Giovanni?” Samantha asked picking a piece of garbage off herself.  
“Yeah, what are you doing here?” Smith echoed.  
“Come with me to my restaurant. We have a lot to discuss. Hurry now! And keep quiet, we’re not out of the woods yet.”  
******************************************************************  
Bitty F. watched the second hand tick around and around and around while the minute hand slowly moved forward. “Time’s up!” Bitty F. shouted.  
“Uh?” said Emily.  
“It’s been two hours! Samantha isn’t back yet!”  
“So?”  
“They’re dead somewhere or in prison!I have to call Nellie!”  
“Bitty, wait! I’m sure there’s---”  
“Hello?” Bitty F. shouted into the phone. “Nellie?”  
“Yes?” The blizzarding wind was howling in the background. “Who is this?”  
“Bitty! I need help!”  
“You need kelp?”  
“HELP! Samantha, Gwen, and Felicity are dead---”  
“Dead?!”  
“Or in prison. I don’t know, I need help! They’re with Smith at this festival but the news lady says Giovanni blew up that part of the city and---”  
“Whoa, Bitty! Slow down! Who is Smith? What festival---”  
Police, ambulance, and fire truck sirens wailed in the distance. Bitty F. started crying. “I’m scared Nellie, they haven’t come back yet and something bad happened with the government and---”  
“Okay Bitty, calm down---”  
“Should I go look for them?”  
“No! Bitty, stay right where you are especially if there’s danger in Rome. Hang on, I’m coming on the first flight that leaves this poor, icy excuse for a land mass.”  
******************************************************************  
Samantha, Gwen, Felicity and Smith sat at a table in Giovanni’s restaurant calmly sipping tea and eating light pastries.  
“This is delicious,” said Gwen.  
“Thank you Giovanni,” Samantha said.  
“Alright,” Felicity chimed chimed in. She rudely guzzled her tea and nearly swallowed the pastries whole. Samantha almost scolded her but then decided to let it slide. “Let’s get down to business. Giovanni---”  
“Yes, yes, I need to explain a few things first.” He stopped to slowly sip his tea.  
Impatient as always Felicity said, “Giovanni! What happened between you and that senator guy? Why is he out to get you? Why did the media lie about---”  
“Patience, young one, patience. All good things come in time.”  
Felicity scowled. Giovanni calmly ate a pastry, much to Felicity’s annoyance. “A long time ago, Rome used to be an empire---”  
“Could we skip ahead a little?” Felicity interrupted. “We don’t really need to go all the way back to ancient times, do we?”  
“Felicity!” Samantha scolded.  
Giovanni frowned at Felicity. “As I was saying, the history of Rome is rather terrible. Right from the get go Roman government has been filled with bad, power hungry people although it pretends to be a democracy. Some of that has carried into modern times---”  
“Like Mr. Senator Boss Man!” Felicity added.  
“Who?”  
“You don’t know him?”  
Gwen said, “The guy who is publically turning you into a rebel and---”  
“Ah, yes. That guy. We---”  
“Why is he doing that?” Felicity asked. “It seems---”  
“Felicity Merriman!” Samantha shouted. “Shut up and let the poor man speak, would you?”  
Giovanni nodded at Samantha. “Thank you. Now this ‘Mr. Senator Boss Man’ as you call him is my mother’s cousin’s friend’s uncle’s neighbor who lives across the street from my sister Sally’s sweet shop.”  
“Well, that’s a distant relation,” said Gwen.  
“Shh!” Samantha glared at her.  
Giovanni ignored them both and said, “He’s always been ambitious, going back to when we were kids.”  
“In the dinosaur ages,” Felicity snickered. Samantha glared at her.  
“He has big dreams,” Giovanni continued. “Not to prosper Italy but to destroy it. He is one of those men who is so easily driven mad by greed, power, and---”  
“Why you?” asked Felicity.  
“Pardon?” said Giovanni.  
“What Felicity means is,” said Samantha, “why would this guy attack you to get what he wants?”  
“Ah, an excellent question Miss Felicity,” said Giovanni. “The short answer is revenge.”  
“Revenge?” Gwen said in surprise. “What? Why---”  
“Giovanni!” Felicity exclaimed. “What did you do?”  
“Felicity,” Smith laid a hand on her arm, “I think it’s best if you---”  
“Shut up?” Samantha offered.  
“Yeah that,” said Smith.  
“Okay, now you’re just being mean,” Felicity complained.  
“Come on guys!” said Gwen. “We’re not accomplishing anything here!”  
“My thoughts exactly,” Felicity grumbled.  
“And whose fault is that?” said Samantha.  
“Do you want information or not?” Giovanni asked.  
“Yes!” Everyone shouted all at once.  
Giovanni shook his head. “Never mind. It’s too dangerous and I don’t want you kids----”  
“No!” Felicity exclaimed. “Giovanni, we’re already involved. We need---”  
“He’s right Felicity,” said Samantha.  
“What?! Whose side are you on here?”  
“Do not blame your sister,” Giovanni said. “This is too dangerous. I do not want you kids to get hurt.”  
“But they’re planning---”  
“Felicity,” Samantha warned.  
“It does not matter,” Giovanni continued. “This is not your mess to clean up. I thank you very much for what you did today---”  
“See!” Felicity burst. “If we could do that---”  
“It’s over Felicity,” said Samantha. “You had your adventure. Now it’s time---”  
“No! Can’t you see the story is so far from over? That we can never give up the fight---”  
“Felicity,” Smith said quietly. “It’s time for us to go.”  
Felicity gawked. “Not you too!”  
He grabbed her arm. “Come on!”  
Outside the restaurant, Felicity struggled to free herself from his grasp. “Let go of me, you wretched, vile, horrible, person you!”  
He let her go. “I’m trying to help you! Those guys will be at the hotel any minute to exchange the plans and we have to be---”  
Felicity slapped his arm. “Why didn’t you say so you silly goose!” She hitched up her skirts and started running. “Come on! There’s not a moment to lose! To the hotel!”  
******************************************************************  
Felicity squatted behind a potted plant in the lobby of the hotel. “Do you see him yet?” She whispered to Smith.  
“Um. . .no. Well, no. Wait. . .there’s a guy over there in a suit. He might---”  
Felicity tackled him. The man thrashed about, bystanders trying to come to his rescue. Felicity rode him around the lobby as if he were a mechanical bull. “Give me the plans! You’ll never get away with whatever it is you’re scheming you----”  
“Aiuto! Ferma! Chiamino la polizia!” The man shouted. “And what plans? I’m just an ordinary American businessman on an ordinary business trip.”  
“Oh, likely story!” Felicity clamped a hand over his mouth as the man at the desk called hotel security. “That’s everyone’s cover story is nowadays! You know what plans I’m talking about you dirty, lying, filthy, stinking, bad guy!”  
Smith slapped a hand to his forehead. “I can’t watch,” he muttered. But then out the corner of his eye he saw two men standing in the shadows of the hallway. They spoke in hushed, hurried tones as one handed the other a briefcase. “Felicity!” Smith hissed.  
She didn’t hear. The average businessman wrestled her arm off his mouth. “Get off me you crazy fool!”  
“Never! Just like you and your villain squad will never win!”  
“Felicity!” Smith hissed louder. The men in the hallway parted ways. Felicity kept on bashing the innocent man over the head with his briefcase. “Oh for goodness sake,” Smith muttered. He was about ready to tear his hair out in frustration.  
By now, hotel security had Felicity and the businessman surrounded. Smith cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted to be heard. “Felicity, you’ve got the wrong man! The real guy is getting away!”  
“What?! Why didn’t you say something!”  
“I tried!”  
“Well, you should’ve tried harder!” She tightened her grip on the businessman and moved until she was almost standing on his shoulders. “Smith, catch me!”  
Before Smith could register what that meant, Felicity jumped off the businessman, flew over the hotel officials and landed in a pile of Colonial skirts on top of poor Smith who was flattened on the ground. Felicity instantly sprang back to her feet. “Come on Smith! What are you doing down there? We have a villain to catch!”  
Felicity and Smith chased the two goons down the hall as hotel security followed close behind them. At a fork in the hallway, they split up. One villain went way while Smith ran after followed by half of hotel security. The other went the other way with a crazy colonial girl chasing after. With heavy skirts weighing her down, Felicity couldn’t run as fast as the man with the briefcase. As the reached the swimming pool, the man slowed on the wet tiles while Felicity slid and skidded towards him gaining enough momentum to pounce. Felicity and the man rolled around on the floor, fighting to gain possession of the briefcase. In the tussle, the briefcase went soaring into the air over the swimming pool. Felicity dove into the pool head first, without even waiting to see where it landed. Water logged and desperate, Felicity looked up to see the man standing, completely dry, on the opposite side of the pool triumphantly holding up the briefcase. By now, the police had arrived at the scene. Felicity scowled and shook her fist as they, and hotel security, surrounded the pool.  
******************************************************************  
“Felicity Merriman! What on earth were you thinking?” Samantha exploded in a rage when hotel security dropped a rather wet and angry looking Felicity off that their room with the strict instructions that the whole family had twenty four hours to get out of the country and never come back.  
“Where’d you find that drowned sewer rat?” Gwen said with a laugh. Felicity silenced her with a menacing glare.  
Samantha ignored Gwen as she continued, “You weren’t thinking, were you? You never stop and think! That poor, poor, businessman you attacked, you are so lucky he didn’t decide to press charges. And then you chased a man involved in the evil government plot after Giovanni and myself explicitly told you not to. This is all over the news. Way to be subtle, Felicity. Now all the bad guys have another reason to want to capture us. Great going. Did I mention how angry I am with you right now? Felicity, look at me.”  
Felicity shivered in her wet things and looked up at Samantha, wishing she could look down again. There is nothing Felicity hates more than a good old fashioned motherly lecture. She hoped Samantha didn’t turn dragon on her.  
“I tried to warn you to stay out of it but no, you didn’t listen. You just had to be the hero and ‘save’ Italy. Even Giovanni basically told you that this nation is a lost cause---”  
“He never said that!” Felicity protested. “And no one is too far gone for---”  
“Giovanni did say to stay out of it. That this is not your mess to deal with---”  
“But---”  
“No buts, Felicity. It’s over--”  
“It’s never over,” Felicity whispered fiercely.  
“Oh, but it is. For you at least. We’re going home tomorrow whether you like it or not.”  
******************************************************************  
The next morning, Felicity snuck out early before dawn. If this was her last day in Italy then she was going to make the most of it. She cautiously peaked out the door and seeing no one, decided to proceed.  
“Buon compleanno,” a low voice said in her ear.  
Felicity jumped. She put a hand over her heart and said dramatically, “Oh Smith. Don’t you ever scare me like that again! I thought you were Samantha.”  
Smith mumbled an apology.  
“Wait. . .how did you know it was my birthday?”  
Smith grinned. “Gwen’s been blabbing it to the hotel staff all week in hopes we’ll make a giant cake for you.”  
“Will you?”  
His smile fell. “We were until . . .”  
“Are you going to help me?”  
He frowned. “Help you with what? Getting us both locked up for the rest of our lives?”  
“No! With saving your country from total ruin and evilness.”  
“If you do something for me first.”  
“What? You really mean it, you’ll help me?” Felicity’s excitement and attention span matched that of a puppy’s.  
“Yes, but only if you let me make this a happy birthday.”  
“Chasing villains makes me happy.”  
“Yeah, but I’m got something greater in store for us today. Follow me.” Extremely puzzled, Felicity followed after Smith for a change, instead of their usual him being dragged behind her.  
******************************************************************  
“Breaking news!” Emily was about to shut the T.V. off when she realized this wasn’t another segment on “Crazy Americans destroying the peace of Italy” complete with photos of Felicity throwing Gwen off the Leaning Tower of Pizza, Felicity standing next to a bomb seconds before it went off, and Felicity riding a businessman.  
“Government officials are kicking off their rooftop party on top of the Capitol building today, a custom tradition in Rome when all leaders gather to celebrate the nation’s yearly successes.”  
Celebrating how well their evil plots went is more like it, Emily thought.  
“This year the party’s theme is music. Each member of the senate has brought an instrument they’d like to play. We’ll see them in action later today. In other news, a wild forest fire rages on the outskirts of town, several firefighters have been hurt in the blaze. In the poor sector of the city, an out of control seven alarm fire rages. Reports of panic from the people but I’m here to tell you not to panic. Firefighters have everything under control and things will calm down soon. Instead of panicking over events not likely to take place, take the day to celebrate all our government has done to protect and prosper us over the year.”  
Emily frowned but didn’t think much of it until a moment later when she accidently ran into a businessman in the hall.  
“Mi scusi,” he muttered. Emily blushed and then stumbled onto him, sending his clipboard of papers flying everywhere. “Watch where you’re going, fool!”  
The evil glint in his eye was eerily familiar. She reached to help pick up pages when her eye caught a glimpse of one that read:  
Operation Nero  
She strained to see---  
He quickly snatched it away and quickly hurried off. Emily gasped. Fire. Rich higher ups playing musical instruments on the roof. Nero. Gwen just happened to be walking by. “Gwen!” Emily grabbed her sister by the shirt.  
“Huh? What?”  
“We have to find Felicity! But she won’t listen to me so you’re going to be my voice.”  
Gwen’s eyes narrowed. She hated to be the bearer of bad news especially where Felicity is involved. “What do I have to say?”  
Emily whispered in her ear and Gwen’s eyes bugged out of her head. “We have to find Felicity!”  
******************************************************************  
Felicity sighed dreamily as she rested her face in her arms. The whole gondola boat rocked sideways and Smith hurried to balance out her weight before she plunged them both into the inky black water. “Oh, Smith! Why---”  
“Shh,” he pressed a finger to her lips. “Per favore, don’t speak. There’s something I need to tell you.” He pulled out a small box wrapped in loud wrapping paper and a giant red bow on top.  
“Oh, Smith. You didn’t have to---”  
“But I want to. You see dear Felicity, you make me happy in a way I’ve never known before. My life so far has been one big bowl of sorrow but finally you showed me how to smile again. How to laugh and be merry despite all the evilness in this world. You make me happy Felicity, and your courage to do the right thing, the impossible things inspires me. Grazie mille. Now go on, open it.”  
Without any further invitation, Felicity furiously ripped off the wrapping paper and gasped to see a watch. But not just any watch, it was a magical time travel watch that you could go any place during any year whenever you want. With it, you do not need to take the time travel train and your actions in the past are not monitored by any officials. There are only three such watches in existence because they are made of a very ancient dangerous magic by a banished wizard, no one else has ever figured out how to replicate it and they’re illegal on most planets.  
“Oh, Smith. I absolutely love it! But how? You must have had to sell your soul to the devil to get you hands on one of these babies.”  
Smith grimaced. “Not quite, but it did come at a heavy cost and I’ll probably spend the rest of my life paying for it. But you are so worth it, Felicity. Ti amo.”  
Felicity didn’t know any Italian so she didn’t catch that last phrase but just the fact of poor Smith squandering money he didn’t have for her when he is still homeless was enough to tame, at least a little, her wild heart. He leaned forward, so close that she thought he might---  
A frantic ball of Gwen came crashing down between them. “Hey, guys. I hope I’m not interrupting anything.” She grinned.  
Felicity almost smacked her. “Gwen?! Really, now?”  
“Perfect timing, huh?”  
Emily stepped out of the shadows. Felicity’s eyes blazed. “You!”  
Smith held her back. “Felicity---”  
“Who does she think she is? Coming here? Right when---” Felicity's face flushed red.  
“None of that matters now!” Gwen snapped. “Rome is about to become a blazing inferno!”  
Smith paled as Felicity’s jaw dropped. “What?”  
Emily nodded and whispered, “The government---”  
Felicity growled. “Easy girl,” said Smith.  
Then they all looked up to see smoke billowing in the distance. “Where’s the water supply?” Felicity asked.  
Emily quietly piped up, “All the firetrucks are surrounding the capitol building.”  
“There’s been a drought lately,” added Smith. “Water has been rationed for months now.”  
“I wonder who’s responsible for that,” said Gwen.  
Felicity let out a curse. “Okay, evacuate as many people as possible.”  
“How?” Gwen asked. “Fire is closing in on all sides.”  
“Figure it out!” Felicity snapped. “Use Giovanni’s blimps, enchant other things to fly, do something! Go! Help anyone with anything unless they’re the government!”  
The gang started running but Felicity pulled matches out of her stays, colonial term for corset, and went running in the opposite direction. Smith paused. “Wait, where are you going?”  
Smith was frightened by the gleam in her eye and the grin on her face when she said, “If Rome is going to burn, then the government is burning with us.”  
******************************************************************  
“I’m scared Samantha,” whimpered Bitty F. as she buried her face in Samantha’s skirt.  
“I know Bitty,” Samantha soothingly stroked Bitty’s bald head. They stood on the roof of the hotel as fire consumed the rest of the building. Hundreds of people were screaming and running in circles.  
“We’re gonna die!” Bitty screamed. Samantha hated to admit she was right. Felicity, Gwen, and Emily were still missing while Samantha, Bitty, and Big D. were trapped on a burning building. A helicopter zoomed overhead. “Hit the deck!” Samantha cried and both babies complied.  
Soon a rope ladder was extended to them. “Need a lift?” Nellie called from above.  
“Nellie!” Samantha shouted. She wasted no time in getting her sister to climb aboard.  
“What about them?” Big D. gestured to the people below them.  
“They’ll be fine,” Logan called from the pilot’s seat. “All the planes from my airport in Boston will be here within minutes to pick them up.”  
“Logan,” Samantha said, “since when do you know how to fly a helicopter?”  
“She doesn’t,” said Nellie.  
“I have a license!” Logan protested. “It’s online certified.”  
“Well, that’s comforting,” said Samantha. She turned to hug Nellie. “Thank you so much!”  
Nellie shrugged. “Don’t thank me, Bitty called in a panic three days ago.”  
“What?!” All eyes turned to Bitty F. in shock.  
“What?” Bitty F. shrugged. “What do I say? I just saved our lives. You owe me big time.”  
Elizabeth Cole peered out the window. “What happened here?”  
Samantha sighed. “Felicity. That’s what happened.”  
******************************************************************  
Felicity coughed on smoke as her feet crunched on charred ruins. Gwen clung tightly to her skirt, Smith put an arm around her, and Emily stood in her shadow. Together they saw a weeping figure hunched over a pile of rumble in the distance.  
“Giovanni!” Felicity gasped.  
“That’s where his restaurant used to be,” Smith said quietly.  
Felicity clamped her jaw shut and her hands curled into fists as anger boiled inside her at anyone evil enough to do this to Giovanni or anyone else for that matter. Then she glanced down at her wrist, fiddling with the magical watch. If only. . .she could!  
Smith grabbed her arm. “No, Felicity.”  
“What? But why----”  
He shook his head. “This is a gift not to be used lightly. There are better ways of dealing with hard things than making it so they never happened. Refined by fire. The people of Rome are going to be made stronger because of this. We don’t know how and we don’t know why yet. We just have to trust,” He pointed up, “Capisce?”  
Felicity nodded and then sighed as she looked down at her watch. “Rome will be refined by fire.”  
“Um,” said Gwen. “I don’t think that phrase was meant to be taken literally.” She gestured to the fires still raging around them. Smith barked a laugh.  
A helicopter circled above. “Not the media!” Gwen exclaimed.  
“No,” Emily said softly, “it’s---”  
“Felicity!” Samantha climbed down a rope ladder. “I am so glad we found you guys!”  
“‘We?’” echoed Gwen.  
Logan waved as the copter slanted a little too close to a burning building for comfort. “Are you alright?” Samantha asked searching for any signs of fatal wounds and relaxing some when she didn’t see any.  
“I thought you were mad at me,” said Felicity.  
“Safety first and then I’ll punish you.”  
Emily and Gwen started to climb while Felicity and Smith made their way over to Giovanni. Smith knelt by the older man’s side and whispered something. “No, no, non importa. Lascaire senza di me.” Giovanni shoed them away  
Felicity knocked him out.  
Smith glared at her. “What did you do that for?”  
“It is the only way he’ll leave.” With a flick of her fingers, the unconscious Giovanni flew up to the helicopter.  
Smith held Felicity close. “Grazie,” he said.  
Dazzling green eyes sparked up at him. “For what?”  
For an answer, he kissed her, catching even Felicity off guard. Logan sounded a fog horn. “Come on, lovebirds! We don’t have all day! Burning fuel here!”  
Felicity laughed and shouted something back as she climbed the ladder. Smith took one last look at the charred streets once filled with so much life. “A piu tardi, la mia amata casa.”  
*****************************************************************  
The playroom family went home in utter despair. Felicity draped herself across her table in her area of the room. She sighed and gazed at the ceiling muttering, “if onlys,” to herself. Glogan were trying desperately to come up with some kind of way they could help Giovanni, Smith and all of Rome. “We could hire people to rebuild,” Gwen suggested.  
“Yeah,” said Logan, “but we’d need lots and lots of money for that.”  
“Famous people have so much money they don’t know what to do with it.”  
“Too bad we’re not rich and famous,” Logan lamented.  
Felicity shot upward like a rocket. “That’s it!”  
“Oh no,” Gwen muttered. “The last time she said that I was thrown off a famous landmark.”  
“What’s it?” said Logan.  
Felicity dug through the stage clothes box and pulled out several sparkly dance dresses. She threw a purple one at Elizabeth, gold at Logan, red at Gwen, blue at Molly and Emily and a green that matched her eyes for herself. “We’re gonna become instant, popular, overnight celebrities!” Felicity explained excitement growing in her voice. “We’ll be a new hit dance group and with these dresses, we’ll just gleam in the spotlight!”  
“Spotlight dancers!” Logan shouted. “Felicity, you’re a genious!”  
“I beg to differ,” Samantha said aside.  
Logan said, “We’ll use magic to disguise our hair and facial features so one one will know it’s us! We’ll have---”  
“Fake names!” Felicity finished. “Elizabeth, you’re Lizzy----”  
“I’ll be Margarita!” Gwen shouted.  
“Um. . .no,” said Felicity. “You’re Wen.”  
“Geesh guys,” said Elizabeth, “With names like these, people will never guess our real identities.”  
“I know, right?” Felicity sighed happily.  
“I was being sarcastic, you know.”  
Felicity ignored that comment and said, “And the best part is---”  
“We’ll donate all the money we get as being famous to Giovanni!”  
“And Smith.”  
“Him too, along with the rest of Rome.”  
“Let’s do it!”  
Everyone hurriedly scurried about, all excited about the new idea of becoming instant celebrities. Felicity practiced her backflips and handstands, Elizabeth longed for a longer dress because coming from full blown colonial attire to skimpy dance dress was not an easy adjustment, and Emily wished they didn’t pick her to be a part of this. What about Samantha? Or Nellie? So they couldn’t dance to save their lives but just as long as it wasn’t Emily up there. At least she could dance, she just didn’t like to do it in front of people.  
Within minutes, the spotlight dancers were on stage with a crowd of a thousand people cheering and screaming their names, a nightmare for Emily but a dream come true for Felicity. Funny how when Felicity wants something done it happens instantly, whether it be saving people’s lives or putting on a good show. That’s just how well a little imagination and a little magic work.  
******************************************************************


End file.
